The Dawn of the Prometheans
by ilmiopassato
Summary: Sequel. In the ruins of an island on planet Khan, in the Outer Colonies, Major Natalie Cooper and her Marines make a life-altering discovery. A new enemy has emerged post-war alongside human rebels and the Storm - and now it is up to the UNSC to make sure the threat never hits Earth.
1. Intro: No Rest for the Wicked

Author's Note: Well, here, as promised, is the start of the fifth story in the Cooper series. A special welcome to readers old and new!

For those who are not familiar with my stories, here's some disclaimers before I start:

1) I DO NOT OWN Halo, the franchise/the books/the games/other media. I'm just writing a story based off this universe. And, like with the previous installments in the series, times/dates/settings may be slightly AU. This story in particular will be diverging liberally from main canon at times, but I promise it'll still be very recognizably Halo. ;)

2) Also like its predecessors, this story is rated T but tends to toe the line with M for language, violence, blood, gore, and some suggestive/sexual content (not graphic). You have been warned.

3) While it is not strictly necessary to read the other Cooper stories to understand this one, it is **highly** recommended. The fics in this series have built off one another and you'll miss a lot of the character development/story progression if you choose to start here. In particular with this fifth story, it begins immediately following the events of story four, "The New Age of Warfare". So at the very least, I recommend reading the last few chapters of that before you dive into this one. If you're not sure what order the stories go in, I have them numbered in chronological order on my profile page.

Other than that, enjoy! I really hope you like it, and please let me know what you think. :)

* * *

**Intro: No Rest for the Wicked**

WARNING! TOP SECRET! EYES ONLY!

SCANNING IN PROGRESS…

…CLEARANCE GRANTED

/TO: Captain Daniel G. Rhodes, Commanding Officer UNSC Transport vessel _Suave Affair_, UNSC Navy

FROM: Rear Admiral Sarah Dartmouth, Commandant UNSC Concord Naval Air Base NA6, Pensacola, Florida, United States. North American Territory, UNSC Navy

SUBJECT: FILE ENCRYPTED

MESSAGE:

Captain Rhodes,

We have received your packet concerning updates on the ongoing mission on the surface of Khan. After careful review of the after-action reports from all the senior ground officers and pilots, as well as reports from yourself and your senior shipboard crew, HighCom has agreed to grant me permission to send you another friendly ship from our home fleet to the Outer Colonies as reinforcement. This includes a fresh complement of Navy crewmen and Marines, as well as additional supplies, vehicles, and ordnance.

As per usual, the voyage will take around three weeks to complete. As I'm writing this message following your mention of a gutsy ground assault against an unprecedented high number of Remnant forces, which I have no doubt is currently underway, I realize the reinforcements may not be there in time to help with present operations. However, as you mentioned that the ground command team has plans to go after the Storm on an island off the coast following this assault - should our Marines succeed in defeating the aliens on the mainland - the ship I'm sending out now should be able to reach you in time to aid in combat there.

I only hope the reinforcements don't arrive too late. Please keep me apprised of the situation, as the brass are very interested in seeing the outcome of events on Khan.

Take care.

Rear Admiral Sarah Dartmouth, Commandant UNSC NA6

/END MESSAGE/


	2. Chapter 1: Breaking Even

**Chapter One: Breaking Even**

******************1604 Hours, February 9, 2558. Qamar Island Ruins,******** Planet Khan**. "The First Tango," Outer Colonies. Prologue to the Dawn of the Prometheans

Just four months ago, I'd thought the Human-Covenant War was over. I'd thought that most of my days in actual combat were done. I'd spent much of the last four years before this living a peaceful life on Earth with my husband Willis and our three kids: seven-year-old Gabe, and four-year-old twins Liam and Olivia, all while helping Earth rebuild from the fighting and eventually becoming CO of the 8th Engineer Battalion. It was what I'd been hoping and longing for throughout all the six long years I'd fought the Covenant during the war: a well-deserved rest and uninterrupted time with my family.

But now, because of human rebels, the religious nutjob sect of the broken Covenant - called the Storm - and some new enemy we'd just discovered today and had yet to name, we were all back at it again.

Funny how the old saying proved true. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Stuck inside the underground ruins of Qamar Island now, in the Outer Colony world of Khan, I brought my gun up at the same time as the spook beside me, Navy Lieutenant Caleb Lloyd, did. In our first glimpse inside the deep chamber of the ruins, we'd just heard a sound that didn't match anything we could account for within our own team. So of course, it had to mean trouble.

"Marines, watch those walls!" I shouted inside the cavernous room. "We don't know where our new mechanical buddies spawned from, or which of these portals could be functioning. Everyone tag a spot and be ready!"

Like I hadn't already had enough on my plate today, what with clearing out the Storm forces on the island once and for all, and the strange and entirely unexpected meet and greet with some sentient, aggressive AI things outside the ruins that we still didn't quite understand, the spook beside me had also informed me that the chamber we were now in contained a series of portals to other worlds. Which ones, nobody knew. How many of the portals were actually active anymore, nobody knew either. It was all stuff that naturally made me curious, as well as awestruck, and I'd already decided I was going to send a thorough report of our findings in this place to HighCom once we were back aboard our ship in orbit, the _Suave Affair_.

The only problem was, of course, how to get out now if the same enemies we'd faced up top were coming back around again. I figured that started with finding the source of the sudden noise that had just cropped up and eliminating it.

Weapons raised, my Marines and I visually scanned the walls of the circular chamber surrounding us for anything that might suddenly wink into existence from any part of the room. Although we continued to hear the sound, nothing had yet appeared. I turned to Lieutenant Lloyd then, wondering what the hell it could be.

"Cal? You probably know more about this than I do since I just found out these things even existed. Should we have seen something pop up by now?"

"Yes, ma'am," the ONI operative replied, though he continued looking down the sights of his BR85HB nonetheless. "Still don't see anything, Major. Not even with the scanners on my HUD. But the sound hasn't gone away."

I suddenly remembered then that down here, we didn't have radio contact with the surface. Earlier I'd had to send one of my Marines back up himself to call for extra hands. My pulse quickened at the thought. "That only means one thing, Lieutenant. Whatever that noise is, it's not coming from down here. It's coming from up top."

Acting fast, I raced over to the old, crumbling stairs that, as far as I could tell, were our only route to and from the surface. I gestured to my team behind me while I began to run up two steps at a time. "Let's move it, Marines! Back to the top, now!"

If we hadn't all been fit UNSC servicemen and women at the peak of condition, the climb would've been long and arduous; the stairs were ancient, steep, and unforgiving. And there were lots of them. As it was I could feel my leg muscles burning and my lungs expanding and contracting fast by the time we made it to the summit, and my knee joints mildly ached. It wasn't from old age since I was only thirty, but from overuse. I'd been in the infantry throughout most of my nearly eleven-year career in the Marines, and all that physical battering I received on a fairly frequent basis in combat, along with all the constant hauling of gear and supplies on my person, were taking their toll.

Not that I complained, however. I sucked it up as I always did, and instead focused on finding out what the hell was happening when we finally stepped back out into the bright island sunlight.

I found, however, that I didn't even have to open my mouth to speak. The answer was staring me in the face the moment we came up.

Somehow, and from where I had no clue, the mechanical beings we'd fought at the entrance had reappeared in greater number on the surface while we'd been down below exploring the ruins. Earlier we'd fought maybe around half a dozen of them, no more than a handful and mostly just the flying drone versions. Now, it seemed there were more - a _lot_ more. When I looked up, I saw that at least eight of them were the big tall ones that I thought looked vaguely like Elites at first, all surrounded by two drones each as they fought my Marines ahead of us. Besides those, I saw that a new kind had showed up, too - smaller ones that crawled along the ground as fast as roaches, but looked sort of like mechanical dogs.

_Great,_ I thought to myself. _Now we've got AI Fido in the mix, too._

Beside me, my aide, Staff Sergeant Joshua Porter, brought his SAW to bear as he spoke to me. "Ma'am, I'd respectfully suggest you proceed with caution. Whatever perimeter we had set up before is clearly not holding up."

I snorted. "I can see that, Josh. But thanks." Turning behind me, I saw my husband's much younger brother, Matthew Hawk, bring up his assault rifle as well, rearing to get into the skirmish. I held up my hand at him and he lowered his weapon with a questioning look.

"Wait a sec, kiddo," I said. "I need to find out what the hell happened before we just go rushing in."

Much as I was itching to jump into the fray myself, I knew it wouldn't be wise. Already in the few months we'd spent here on Khan, we'd lost not only the UNSC outpost we'd been sent to help bolster, but also its CO, Colonel Dwight. And in the subsequent fighting against the Storm on the mainland, we'd even lost my best friend and joint commander on this mission, Major Oliver Hayden. His death had occurred just scant weeks ago, so the loss was still at the forefront of my mind and still hurt like hell, but most of the time I managed to clamp down on my feelings and focus on the task at hand.

What that all meant presently, however, was that I was now the senior ranking officer on the ground. If something happened to me now, we'd be cooked, as all that was left down the chain of command were the two battalions' captains. Already one of them was in charge of what used to be Hayden's unit, and my own XO was doing much of the leg work for my own since I currently had my hands full trying to direct both, as well as the vehicles, armor, and air support we'd brought with us to the island.

So basically, I needed to make sure I didn't bite the dust anytime soon. And not just for my family's sake, but for my Marines as well.

Unconsciously, I let out a sigh. _Long day_ didn't even begin to cover it. It was more like a long several weeks.

Opening a COM channel to my XO, who I knew was one of the Marines busily engaged in the fighting now, I said, "Harris, this is Major Cooper. Where the hell did more of those bastards come from?"

"No clue, Major!" Captain Shawn Harris responded promptly. He sounded out of breath. "I know you thought there was a chance they came from those ruins, ma'am, but there must've been more up top that we hadn't seen. These ones came out from _behind_ the old buildings, not inside."

_Fuck,_ I thought. To Harris, I replied, "How is that possible, Captain? I've got Kilo Squadron flying above you with eyes on. They didn't spot them? Didn't they warn you they were on approach?"

"Yes, ma'am, they did. Talon sent out the warning, but by the time the flyboys saw them come out of whatever damned hole they'd been hiding in, it was too late. They were already swarming our position. Fighting hard, too, Major. This won't be easy to get out of. These bastards are tougher to take out than the Covies and Storm ever were."

"Don't I know it," I murmured. Before we'd entered the ruins, just one of those tall robots had leapt clear over a whole squad of Marines to land in front of the 'Hog we'd brought with us, eliminating all three of the Marines inside within seconds. If this new enemy had been going for a grand initial meeting, I couldn't think of anything more spectacular than that. Or frightening. I knew that despite all we'd brought with us to Qamar, we'd certainly have our hands full if more of these mechanical beings continued to show up.

"Was that all, ma'am?" Harris asked.

"Just one more thing, Shawn. Have you seen anymore enter the fight since it began?"

"That's a negative, Major. But they've been keeping me pretty busy as well, ma'am, so it's possible I may have missed a few. But I get the feeling that this may have been all that were left hiding out in the back. Don't know what might've caught their attention, though, to force them out."

"Got it. Standby for more orders soon, Captain. Cooper out."

Even as I cut the connection, I could think of two things that may have lured the rest of them out: the approach of the remainder of my engineer battalion, and the small team I'd chosen to take with me to explore inside the ruins. Either one of those things may have triggered the possible backlash - probably both.

I supposed though that the "why" didn't matter so much anymore. Now, we were just faced with the task of dealing with it.

Turning to face my aide, I said, "All right, Josh. Now's the time. Let's get in there and help."

I could hear the staff sergeant beginning to protest behind me, but I didn't stick around to hear what his objection was this time. And apparently neither did the Marines with us. Rather than await their squad leader they instead charged headlong into the fray with me, weapons up and ready to take on whatever came at us first.

Surprisingly, that didn't take long. I'd only taken a few steps towards the fight when one of the AI dog-looking things must've sensed us coming and broke off its attack toward the larger force of Marines up ahead. Just off to the left of it, a second dog-like machine did the same. Then, moving with amazingly quick speed, they ran right for us instead.

Already holding my DMR to bear in my hands, I took rapid aim at the first and fired, three straight bursts that I thought would nail the little bastard for sure. But their speed served them well, and just as I'd fired my last burst, it ducked under the volley of lead and ran at me fast, trailing sparks from the initial two bursts. Knowing I wouldn't get another good aim in in time, I backpedaled, reaching for my sidearm with my right hand as I held onto my DMR with my left. Even if I managed to get the magnum out of my hip holster now, I knew I wouldn't do it fast enough to avoid getting shot to bits by the robot dog.

Thankfully, that's when Porter sprinted up beside me and let out a long rattle of gunfire from his SAW. Sweeping from left to right on the ground with his rapid-fire weapon, he made quick work of both beasts in no time. Seconds later both mechanical things skidded to a halt in the grassy dirt, their brightly lit eyes going dark and sparks overwhelming their circuits where they'd been hit. It was doggy heaven for the robotic mutts, and a big, heavy sigh of relief for me.

"Thanks," I said to him, realizing only now how hard I was breathing.

I kept thinking that after all the close scrapes I'd been through in my life, I'd somehow become accustomed to them by now and not worry so much about the near-death stuff. Instead, I found I felt more or less the same about it today as I had when I'd first been commissioned as an officer in the Marine Corps at twenty, almost eleven years ago. Death never sounded like a good idea.

And I'd had more than my fair share of close calls over the years. The only-just-healed bullet wounds in my left shoulder and chest were a testament to that, courtesy of some overzealous Jackal snipers that had been harassing Outpost Columbia for profit before it'd gone up in smoke. Good times.

"Are you okay, ma'am?" Porter asked me then in response to my gratitude. I waved him off.

"Fine, Staff. Come on, let's keep going. There's plenty more where that came from."

A quick glance up ahead proved that the sudden skirmish was anything but close to being over. We hadn't quite arrived at the start, and we weren't getting overwhelmed yet, but I had to admit that whatever those mechincal things were - wherever they'd come from - they were certainly putting up a good fight. It wasn't long before I heard my XO's voice over the COM channel again as he hailed me.

"Major! We're burning through bullets fast here! Where's our air support?"

"Can't call them in, Captain! The fighting's too condensed! If they target the enemy, they'd also be hitting us!" I answered.

"Shit! What about our Scorpion, ma'am?"

"Same thing! We're just going to have to tackle this on our own, Harris."

"Understood!"

Now that he'd brought it up, I refrained from setting my sights on a new target just long enough to hail Kilo and our armor, which should've been somewhere behind the engineers bringing up the rear. I didn't want them getting too excited to help, either, although I knew both Marine commanders were smart enough to stay out the fighting if it would hurt friendlies. Just in case, though, I opened up another channel to both.

"First Lieutenant Abel?"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"I want you and your Scorpion to sit tight for now and hold position where you're at. Do not fire at the enemy. I repeat, do _not_ fire. Friendlies are amongst them."

"Got it, Major. Standing by."

"Good. Talon?"

My husband's voice flooded my helmet, full of concern. "What's up, Cooper? I see you guys have your hands full down there, but I don't want to launch anything in case it hits some of you. You're too tightly packed."

"I know," I said. "Just keep an eye out for anymore that might emerge, and be sure to give us a head's up if they do."

"Will do, Major." Then his voice went low. "I'm sorry about before, honey. We were reconning the area when you went in, just like you'd ordered, but we didn't see them in time."

"I understand. Harris filled me in. We'll handle it."

The connection cut fast as I didn't have time to stand there and chitchat. By now the melee was growing more and more chaotic around me. Sparks flew as metal parts and human blood occasionally sprayed into the air, all while bullets and what looked like pulses of orange laser light tore through their intended targets. Marines were dropping quickly, but then again so were most of the mechanical dogs and the drones. What ended up proving harder to go up against were the tall Elite-looking things. Until we better understood their weaknesses -and actually found out what the hell these things were - I was afraid I'd be looking at some very high casualty numbers by the end.

And that was something I'd just never been able to accept. As supreme ground commander, I was responsible for the well-being of all my Marines - and I wanted to make sure I could bring all I could back home safe. If something could be done to stop this, it was up to me to find it.

I opened up yet another general channel, going off a hunch I had after seeing what had occurred during my first encounter with these things at the entrance to the ruins. Maybe it would work, maybe it wouldn't, but it was time to see.

"Marines, keep up the fire! Target the dogs and the drones first! I repeat, take out those drones! Then pour all the lead you've got into those big tall bastards! Let's do this!"

The cacophony of battle only increased then as the Marines around me quickly switched up the pace to do as I ordered. I started to hear more and more metallic _pops_ and bursts of hot metal as one by one, the dogs and drones were attacked relentlessly and sent into smoking heaps on the ground. Finally, the tide of the fight began to change.

But even as those things started getting destroyed at a faster rate, the big tall ones jumped into a higher gear, too, to compensate. Now, as I stood firing off bursts from my own weapon as well, trying to nail as many of the flying drones as I could, I watched out of the corner of my eye as the Elite-like ones didn't just leap from the fight. They started _teleporting_ away.

Of course, there was no way I could know if that was exactly what they were doing. It was simply the only way I knew how to describe it.

One thing I did know, however, was that they'd only started doing that once most of the drones had been cleared out of the way. Again, I made the connection in my mind to the first fight, and began to see how the two possibly worked in tandem while in combat. I'd try to find out more from our spook Cal once the skirmish was over.

It was only as the last few rounds poured from my Marines' guns and I got a hail from my XO that I felt like things were finally calming down.

"Major, they've retreated! I don't know where they went - couldn't see 'em - but it looks like most are gone for now, ma'am."

"You mean most of the big ones," I corrected.

"Yes, ma'am. We've still got some of the dogs around as stragglers, but we'll get that mopped up. As you can see, the drones are all destroyed."

I nodded to myself, though I knew he couldn't see it. "Right. Excellent work, Harris. Please relay that to the Marines as well."

"On it, Major."

A few minutes later, the last sounds of the fight finally died out. When it was done I was left standing there in a bit of a shock, astonished at just how fast things had begun and then ended. Meanwhile, the effects of the brief skirmish between our forces were all around us: strewn weapons and smoking metal parts and Marine bodies and sparks were all over in small pockets of tragedy. And even through my helmet's filtered systems, I could smell it, too. The carnage against the human corpses, and the smoky smell of oil and burnt ozone from the enemy's broken components and weapons' discharge. The latter was something I'd gotten used to during the Human-Covenant War, and again when we'd fought the Storm here on Khan on the mainland, but this smelled a little different. In the moment, I wondered if these new beings fought with plasma as well, or something different. Another thing to ask Lieutenant Lloyd later.

For now, I knew I had to get the Marines organized again and let our other battalion waiting in the wings, the 904th Infantry, know of what had occurred here. I also had to get our medic to attend to the wounded, and pick out the dogtags of the dead once that was complete. I sighed as I looked over the great mess the skirmish had created at our feet, then paused for a few seconds before opening up a new channel.

It was in that moment that I received a hail from our ship in orbit, the _Suave Affair_.

"_Affair_ to ground commander, please respond."

Curious, I answered right away. "_Affair_, this is Major Cooper. Go ahead."

"Cooper, this is _Affair_ actual. Take a pilot and get back up to the ship now, Major. And bring the spook with you. We've had some new developments that you need to be brought up to speed on right away."

I frowned, wondering what that really meant. But I knew if the ship's captain had hailed me over it, it must be big. "Sir, we've just had a skirmish end right this moment - and with a brand-new enemy, no less. The area hasn't been secured yet. Before I head up, I'd like to - "

"_Now_, Major. Let your XO and other officers handle it."

"Yes, sir."

"Good. I expect you up here in thirty minutes. _Affair_ out."

The line went dead then, and I was left wondering what kind of news the _Affair_'s CO had that involved me - or groundside operations. Rather than dwell on the unknown, however, I got straight to work making sure a new defensive perimeter was set up, that Cal was nearby, and that a pilot was ready to take us back up into space.

Again I felt a pang of regret when I realized that whatever the message was, it probably wasn't going to be pleasant. And almost assuredly, it meant that at least for the foreseeable future, we weren't going home.


	3. Chapter 2: Sitrep

Author's Note: I'm taking some creative liberties with the Prometheans concerning the main Halo canon of the fourth game and attempting to line it up nicely with my own story here. I know timeline-wise I'm a little ahead of the events of Halo 4, but in this fic, I'm working under the premise that UNSC forces are still fighting on Requiem at the moment, and the Didact/Prometheans have not yet reached Earth. Thus, my own characters will find out some preliminary stuff about the Prometheans now, but they will not have the full scope of knowledge yet, like the fact that they're actually Forerunner AIs, and many were produced from humans. These are things they'll uncover slowly as the story progresses.

* * *

**Chapter Two: Sitrep**

Ten minutes later Lieutenant Lloyd and I were strapped into our seats in the troop bay of Willis's Pelican, on our way up to the _Affair _as ordered. I let out a tired sigh as soon as I sat down and pulled off my helmet, thankful that I was finally able to wipe the sweat from my forehead that I hadn't been able to earlier in the field. It'd been bothering me like crazy that I couldn't scratch the itch, although in combat there'd been plenty else to pay attention to that distracted me from my mild discomfort. The temperature on the island had been pretty balmy, much warmer than the mainland was, so I was sure everyone had been perspiring a lot today - rolling up my battledress jacket sleeves hadn't actually helped as much as I'd hoped.

Now, though, I finally felt able to relax...just a little. I still wondered what we were getting summoned up to the ship for.

Placing my helmet in the seat beside me, I ran a hand through my brown hair then, trying to do what I could to keep busy so I didn't have to think about the fact that I was aboard a transport - or that I was getting sent back to the boat. Saying that ships of any kind weren't my thing was an understatement. There was a reason I'd joined the Marines over the Navy all those years ago, and that was because I loved having my boots on solid ground. Being stuck inside a metal box, unable to do anything in case we were attacked, scared me a lot more than the possibility of getting blown up or shot. At least on the battlefield, I knew I had some experience and a great deal of tricks up my sleeve to try to get myself out alive. Here, I had absolutely nothing. I wasn't too jazzed about those odds.

Although the only other occupant inside the troop bay was the spook, I still tried my best not to make any obvious gestures of nervousness. To keep my hands busy - and also because I was genuinely thirsty after the fight - I pulled my canteen from my web belt and took a generous swig. It was as I was screwing the cap back on that I glanced over at Lloyd, sitting across from me, and noticed his expression. For some reason he had worry written all over his face, his battle rifle lying sideways against his lap. He'd taken off his own helmet too by now, and I saw that he had his head in his hands, fingers brushing over his close-cropped, dark brown hair.

I nudged the suddenly sullen ONI operative with my boot and asked quietly, "Hey. What's with the face?" I grinned briefly. "Starting to hate being on ships as much as I do?"

Lieutenant Lloyd shook his head and released a sigh, still not looking up. "No, ma'am. It's not that. I'm just...worried about why we were called up."

"So am I to an extent, but I know that whatever it is, we'll deal with it. You, on the other hand, look like someone just punched you in the stomach."

Lloyd snorted. "I guess that's the difference between you and me then, Major." He finally lifted his gaze and his blue eyes met my green ones. "I'm afraid this meeting's about my older sister. I hope nothing happened to her."

"Is she deployed right now?"

"Yeah. I mean, yes, ma'am. She's leading her ODST battalion in another campaign here in the Outer Colonies. I usually get letchips from her about once every couple weeks, but now it's almost been a month and I haven't heard anything. I hope..." He swallowed. "I just hope she's okay."

I thought of the spook's only sibling and prayed she was fine, too. Lieutenant Lloyd, only three years my junior, had also been through a lot in his lifetime so far. We'd had several talks together after my best friend had been killed in the mainland fighting, and I found that Cal had had a much rougher past than I would've guessed given his normally pleasant disposition. I supposed sooner or later, it all took a toll on us.

"I'm sure she's fine, Lieutenant," I said. The words felt hollow to me, though I didn't mean them to. I'd lost my own older sister in combat almost eight years ago. I couldn't say the wound was fresh anymore, but it was certainly something I'd never forget. "If this whole thing was just to tell you about your sister, they wouldn't have called me up, too."

The Navy lieutenant nodded at my words. "You're right, ma'am. I'm probably overreacting. But...after our mom was killed getting us off Derranjak as kids, it was just me and my dad and my sister left. Since my mom died only a few months after I was born, they're all the family I've ever known. We're a real close bunch. If something happened to Dad or Grace..."

"I know the feeling," I replied softly. "I worried about my oldest son every day during the war. I kept being afraid that Earth was going to get attacked while I was gone on a mission, and lo and behold, it was. Thankfully my husband was there to rescue him." I had to swallow down the bad memory to continue. "I still worry about all my kids now. I hate every second I'm away from them, and I hate thinking that something might happen to them on Mars, for whatever reason, while I'm away. But we can't live our lives constantly wringing our hands waiting for the shit to hit, Cal. Just trust me. I wouldn't have been ordered up if this had been about delivering some personal news to you. I'm sure this is just about the mission. So don't sweat it."

That finally seemed to get through to him. "Right, Major." He sighed again. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I don't mean to lose composure."

"It's okay. I know how much your family means to you after what you went through as an infant."

"Heh. Not that I remember that, of course, but it's...knowing that it happened that bugs me."

My husband's voice came over the intercom then, interrupting our conversation.

"Cooper, we're three minutes out. Might want to collect your gear and get ready to disembark."

Shifting over to the side, I hit the troop bay intercom in return to reply. "Got it, Will. Thanks."

Lloyd and I didn't exchange anymore words after that, probably in private preparation for whatever we were about to be told. Instead, we each picked up our respective rifles and helmets, scooted ourselves closer to the back hatch, and waited to land inside the _Affair_.

* * *

The moment we stepped out of the Pelican in the hangar bay, a young female ensign approached us.

"Ma'am, sir, Captain Rhodes would like to see you right away," she said. "Please come with me."

At the same time, Willis rounded the corner, just now pulling off his helmet and unzipping the top portion of his flightsuit down to his chest, exposing part of his T-shirt underneath. The sharp-eyed ensign spotted him as well and added, "You, too, sir."

My husband and I exchanged a quick glance as he ran a hand through his short, light brown hair, but I shrugged. I didn't know anymore about what was going on than he did. Instead, we followed Lloyd and the ensign to the captain's personal briefing room several decks above. It only took a few more minutes to get there via the elevators.

Once there, the ensign ushered us inside, then saw herself out and closed the hatch behind her. Being the ranking officer, I stepped up first, stood at crisp attention, and saluted. Behind me, Willis and the spook did the same.

"Sir, Major Natalie Cooper, Captain William Hawk, and Lieutenant Caleb Lloyd reporting as ordered," I said.

The Navy captain, a man who looked to be in his mid-fifties with short graying hair, nodded in acknowledgment and waved a hand at us. "At ease, officers," he replied.

The three of us instantly relaxed our postures.

Standing firm before us, the ship's CO folded his arms across his chest. "We have a lot of important ground to cover in here today, but I want to try to keep this meeting short and informal. I know you all have a lot of work to do and plenty to get back to on the planet's surface. But before you return to your duties, there's some things I'd like to get out of the way."

"Sir?" I asked.

Surprising me, he gestured to Willis first.

"Captain Hawk, would you step forward please?"

"Uh, yes, sir, of course."

My husband moved a few paces ahead of Lloyd and I and came to attention again. For the first time, Captain Rhodes's face broke into a smile.

"At the request of your CO, Major Collins, we'd like to formally acknowledge all the work you've done so far on the surface of Khan, son," the captain said. "Congratulations, _Major_ Hawk."

A grin immediately came across my face as well, although it appeared Willis was simply dumbstruck. If we hadn't been in the presence of others - especially such a high-ranking superior officer - I would've gone over to give him a big hug and a hard kiss. I knew my husband had been waiting patiently for his own promotion to major since Remembrance Day of last year. I felt happy for him knowing that he'd finally made it.

The circumstances being what they were, though, I was forced to simply stand behind him and beam in support.

Finally, Willis found his voice. "Thank you, sir. So much. This is...wow. I wasn't expecting this."

Captain Rhodes clapped him on the shoulder as he handed him his new insignia - a single gold oak leaf. "Don't thank me, Marine. Go thank Collins. She's the one who put in the paperwork."

Willis chuckled. "Right. I'll go find her and thank her myself once the briefing's complete, sir."

"Actually, the rest of the meeting will just be between myself, Major Cooper, and Lieutenant Lloyd, Hawk. But I should warn you now that that new rank of yours comes with a larger responsibility as well."

"Sir?"

"Collins wants you to take charge of both Victor and Kilo Squadrons as you support the ground team, Major. Think you can handle it?"

"Yes, sir," Willis answered emphatically.

"Good. Then you're dismissed, son."

"Sir!"

My husband saluted, then spun on his heel and filed out. I wanted to tell him I'd meet up with him later in our shared quarters aboard ship, but I figured he already knew that. Besides, there was still the matter of the briefing to attend to for Lloyd and I.

The _Suave Affair_'s captain was still smiling slightly to himself when he addressed me. "You must be happy for your husband, Major."

"Very, sir. Thank you." Since we'd been ordered at ease, I raised my hand to my head and scratched it. "If I may ask, though, sir, how did you know I'd pick him when you told me to bring up a pilot?"

"It was the obvious choice. I knew you'd ask Hawk to shuttle you up, so there was no need to order you to bring him directly."

"Yes, sir. I understand."

"Good. Now, we've got some other important matters to discuss. I want this just between you and the spook for now, which is why I explicitly sent for the two of you. Major, you need to know because you're supreme commander on the ground, and Lloyd was requested because he could actually help us with comprehending a few things due to his ONI status." He looked to the spook then. "Lloyd, would you like to fill the major in?"

"Yes, sir," Lieutenant Lloyd responded. He glanced over at me. "Just before we went inside the ruins, ma'am, I uploaded an image of the gun we found on the ground in front of the entrance, dropped by one of those big tall machine things as it disappeared. I also took the copy of your helmet cam feed that you sent me and uploaded that to the _Affair_ as well. I hoped that while we were down there fighting, that might give the crew up here more time to find out what we were up against."

"And?" I asked.

"I sent a message to HighCom once I saw what we were dealing with," Captain Rhodes said. "Rear Admiral Dartmouth responded, and authorized me to open up the intel to you two as well." He looked at both of us in turn. "What we're facing now is brand-new enemy, something the UNSC has fought only once before, and very far from UNSC-controlled space. It's alarming that we've discovered a pocket of them here now, too."

"What are they, sir?" Lloyd questioned.

"ONI calls them 'Prometheans', Lieutenant. All we know about them so far is that they're not organic beings in nature, but more like machines. I suppose the best way to describe them is that they're digital entities in robotic form."

"So they are AIs," I murmured.

"That is correct, Major, but they're not of our making - and not like the AIs we know. They're not old Covenant tech, either, nor were they created by the Storm."

"Do they have anything to do with the Flood, sir?" I wondered.

"We don't know that much yet, Cooper. We still have UNSC forces on the surface of the world where these beings were first encountered a short time ago, and they're looking into trying to find out the answers to these and other questions as well. Namely, who created these creatures, and from where they originate."

"No one knows yet, huh?"

"That's sadly affirmative, Major."

I let out a sigh. This was a lot to take in. "I fought the Flood on Earth, sir, during the last months of the war. The only thing I can say about that is that it was absolutely terrifying. I really hope this has nothing to do with them."

"As do I."

I looked over at Cal then, but he didn't seem to have anything to add. "Anything else I should know about, sir?"

"Yes," Rhodes answered. "We've also gotten some initial intel on the various forms these AIs take. I noticed in your helmet feed that you encountered two of them on the surface. So far, we know of three types total."

"I think we fought the third just now, sir," I said. "Smaller four-legged ones. Looked like mechanical dogs to me."

"That's the one, Major. ONI has classified them as 'Crawlers'."

I snorted at that. "Aptly named, Captain."

"Indeed. The other two you fought, the drones and the taller, bipedal ones, are termed 'Watchers' and 'Knights', respectively."

Nodding, I paused a moment to let the new information sink in. It was nice to finally know what we were up against...sort of. At least we had names and classifications now. I was sure more detailed info on their weaponry and origins would be forthcoming, too.

"All right. Now we know what these things are at least," I said. "So where do we go from here, sir? What does HighCom want from us?"

"That's where things get tricky, Major," Captain Rhodes replied. "Enlisting the help of Lieutenant Lloyd here, Admiral Dartmouth has given me express orders to relay to you to carry out. Now that we know what they are and that they're there, we need to keep those ruins from falling into the Remnant's claws again should they reappear. We also need to find a way to discover where the Prometheans are coming from out of those portals, and to destroy them if necessary to prevent additional enemies from emerging."

"Tall order, sir."

"Yes, it is, Cooper. But I can't think of any other unit more suited for the job. And you'll be getting more help soon, too."

"Sir?"

"The admiral sent me another message just today. We've got another UNSC ship coming in to support."

I furrowed my brow. "How did they know we'd need the extra hands? We've only just encountered these...Promethean things today."

"Admiral Dartmouth dispatched them after she received the initial reports you and Major Hayden composed of the fighting on mainland Khan. This was when you'd first began your assault on the human rebel forces' HQ, only to have a very large number of Storm troops intervene. It was then that the admiral decided to procure us some reinforcements."

"And they're here now, sir?"

"No. But they should be arriving within the next few days. They'll be placed on standby in orbit, and will come down planetside only at your request. You're still at the helm of this operation, Cooper."

"All right."

Captain Rhodes turned to face Lloyd then. "Lieutenant, in this case, I don't think I need to spell out your own orders for you. Essentially, we need to gather all the intel we can on this new enemy, and also anything you can garner from the ruins themselves. A team of the UNSC's best civilian scientists are aboard the reinforcement ship as well. Make good use of them."

"Yes, sir," the spook replied.

"Excellent. You're dismissed now, Lieutenant."

"Sir!"

Lieutenant Lloyd repeated the motions my husband had and exited the room. That left just Rhodes and I inside.

"Before you go, Major, I had an additional item or two to discuss with you in private."

"Sir?"

"Firstly, I know that things groundside have gone belly up a few times since we've arrived. I know about the loss of Colonel Dwight and Major Hayden, which has now left you in sole command of the two Marine battalions left." He gave me a pointed look. "I also know what kind of heavy burden that must be for you. And I've got to say, based on how you were able to defeat the Storm so quickly on the mainland, then plan and execute the assault on the island today to eliminate the ex-Covies left, you've handled it all remarkably well."

"Thank you, sir."

"To that end, I'm proposing a couple of promotions for your men. With your permission, I'd like to give Captain Warfield, currently in charge of the 904th Infantry Battalion, the rank of major, and I'd like to give your XO, Captain Shawn Harris, the same. That way, both can officially head the battalions they now de facto command."

"I think that's a great idea, sir. Both are deserving of it, and it would definitely fill our command vacuum." Though I refrained from mentioning aloud what that meant for me if my battalion command was getting taken away and handed over completely to Harris. Was I being pushed out?

The Navy captain's expression, however, assured me otherwise. His slight smile returned as he pulled a small box from his inside jacket pocket. "I believe that leaves just you to figure out, Cooper. I've gotten the go-ahead from Rear Admiral Dartmouth, and we think you're owed something for your own performance here on Khan as well." He opened up the box, and inside was a single silver oak leaf. "Congratulations, Lieutenant Colonel. Now your job description of supreme ground commander fits the rank."

I stared dumbstruck at the box in much the same fashion as Willis had earlier. I'd only just made major a little over a year ago. And now, already I was looking at yet another notch up. A lump formed in my throat as I thought of Hayden - and how if he'd been alive, I'd hoped to see him get his soon. Instead, because he was gone, it was me.

"Wow. Thank you, sir. I..." I laughed a little nervously. "I can't think of anything to say that my husband didn't say himself just now. This is..."

Captain Rhodes patted me on the shoulder as well. "You deserve this for your expert handling of the Marines planetside, Cooper. Take it. I know you'll do fine."

I did as commanded and took the box in my hands. Slowly, and with steady hands, I pulled off my major's rank insignia from my battledress uniform and replaced it with my new one. The silver oak leaf of a lieutenant colonel. It still felt surreal.

"Again, sir. Thank you for this."

The captain chuckled himself then. "Like I told Hawk, don't thank me for it. The rank comes with its own costs, as I'm sure you well know by now."

I nodded.

"And Colonel Cooper?"

"Sir?"

His smile tightened. "Welcome to the hard part."


	4. Chapter 3: Stolen Moments

**Chapter Three: Stolen Moments**

I left the briefing room feeling somehow more exhausted than elated. The concerns I had about the threat of a new enemy far outweighed the positives gained from Willis's and my promotions. With each of us getting another rank up, it meant a lot more pay would be making its way to our kids back on Mars, which was good - but I also knew it meant for sure now that we were here to stay, and that any hope that this deployment would end sooner rather than later had just died.

It'd been four months since we'd left Gabriel, Liam, and Olivia behind on our homeplanet with Willis's parents. I'd ached every day to see them. Now, it seemed like we'd be waiting even longer for a reunion. The thought left me sad.

Walking through the corridors of the ship to get to my quarters, I passed by a number of Marines and sailors who took one look at my rank and promptly saluted. Not having been used to it on the ground for the past several weeks, where such displays were forbidden for obvious reasons, I was slow to return the gesture. I felt achy and sluggish from the fight - my recent gunshot wounds in particular were sore and hurting. So before I proceeded to my room, I stopped by the mess for a quick pick-me-up.

Going to the drink dispensers first, I grabbed two cups of hot coffee, holding them together in one hand by the rim, then stashed away two energy bars in my pockets. I knew we'd have to return to the surface shortly, just as soon as I was done getting a few things ready for my higher-ups to read, so we didn't have time for a real meal. Although I was hungry and would've certainly preferred that to a few quick bites of a bar. But I reminded myself that beggars couldn't be choosers.

By the time I reached Willis's and my quarters, I was about ready to slump into the small chair by the equally tiny desk in the room. Before I could do that, though, I had to get past the automated AI voice-match system, since we were berthed in the senior officers area.

"Please state your name and rank for entry," the low-grade AI said as I approached.

I answered without a second thought, having done this routine countless times during our voyage to Khan. "Major Cooper, Natalie McKenzie. Service number 38221-50486-NC."

A harsh tone sounded and a red light went on. "Access denied."

Frowning, I racked my brain for a moment before I remembered. "Oh. _Lieutenant Colonel_ Cooper, Natalie McKenzie. Service number 38221-50486-NC."

"Access granted."

The hatch was unlocked then and I was able to pull it aside and go in. Willis had his back to me when I entered, going through his gear for something by the minuscule closet. Thinking nothing of it, I set the two drinks and bars down on the desk, then quickly undid the buttons of my battledress jacket and shrugged it off, along with my armor, weapon, and helmet. After that, feeling considerably lighter without all the added weight on my person, I pulled out the bottom of my T-shirt from under my belt. I finally took another step forward then and pretty much flopped down into the hard chair in the room, propped my head up on the desk with one hand, and let out a sigh.

In front of me, I heard Willis chuckle. "Rough day?"

I snorted. "I wish that were descriptive enough to even _begin_ to cover it."

"It's not so bad," my husband replied, finally turning to face me. "Look. I've got a shiny new insignia."

A smile made its way to my face. "I noticed. Congratulations, honey."

"Thanks." He stepped a little closer. "So now that we're both the same rank..."

"Yeah, about that - "

"What?"

Willis was staring at me with an inquisitive look on his face now. I didn't want to steal his moment, but I knew he wouldn't let it go until he knew. So I grabbed my jacket from the back of the chair I was in and flipped over the collar so he could see. His eyes went wide.

"Jesus. You made LTC?"

"Yup. I don't know if that's tragic or if I should actually be happy about it. This...wasn't what I was expecting when we got called up."

My husband just beamed, like I had at his own good news. "Tragic? No way, Coop. You worked real hard for that." He leaned down and gave me a brief kiss. "Congratulations, _Colonel_."

I kissed him back in return, then pulled away to run a hand through my hair. "I'd be happier about it if I knew for sure it was something I could handle. The brass have put a lot of faith in me, and I just...I don't know if I can live up to their expectations."

"Cooper, what are you talking about? I've been down there with you the whole time, you know. I've seen what you do. If you don't want to trust your own judgment, at least trust me. You're the natural choice for this."

"Maybe, but...Christ, Will. I've only just recovered from getting sniped through the chest. I had a damn heart attack and was a dead slab of meat on Doc's table for five whole minutes before he was able to bring me back. That was a month ago. Then I watched Hayden die, and I almost had a very public breakdown the other night in the rec room over it. I can't sleep - "

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Willis said, holding up his hands. "Slow down, Coop." He crouched in front of me and put his hand on my good shoulder - not the one that had also taken a bullet - and smiled. "Natalie, you're doing fine. I know you've got a lot on your plate all the time, but you've always dealt with it exceptionally well. If I can be half the major you were, I'd be happy. You're exactly what your Marines need. So don't ever doubt that, and don't worry about everything so much. Just get out there, and do what you do best, honey. The rest will follow."

I rubbed absently at my chest, unconsciously gripping my brand-new set of dogtags. "I guess you're right." I leaned my head back then and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Sorry. It's just...this whole 'new enemy' thing has thrown me for a loop. Before today, it seemed like things were finally getting wrapped up out here. I really thought we'd be going home after this. I miss the kids so much - "

"I know you do, Natalie. And so do I. Hopefully it won't be too long of a wait, though. You'll see." He gestured to the goodies I'd brought from the mess hall, probably to get both our minds off the subject. "These all yours, or do I get a set?"

I chuckled. "No. I picked up two of everything so you could get a jolt of caffeine and some food, too. I know it's not easy flying those birds all day."

He leaned in to kiss me again as he grinned. "Thanks, honey."

"You're welcome." I reached for my own coffee just as he did his and took a long drink. The liquid was tepid by now rather than hot, but it still hit the spot. "Damn. I feel like I'm living in the lap of luxury sometimes, getting to come back up to the ship twice in the last few days for a quick rest and some grub." I frowned. "None of my Marines have it this good."

"True, but they don't have the huge responsibility on their shoulders that you do, either. Don't feel bad." My husband unwrapped the bar and immediately ate half of it in one big bite. "So what's next, _Colonel_? When do you want us to head back down?"

"Soon," I replied around a mouthful of my own bar. "I actually don't think I'll even have time to shower this trip. Captain Rhodes wants me to write up a report on our initial approach to the ruins and our subsequent encounter with the Prometheans before I go. For Admiral Dartmouth."

Willis suddenly stopped mid-chew. "Wait, what? Promeans?"

"_Prometheans_," I corrected. "Rhodes said that's what we just fought on the island. Mechanical bastards."

"That's what he called you and the spook up here for?"

"Yeah. I'm kind of glad we've actually got some intel on those things now. Should help us fight back."

"So what are they exactly?"

"As far as we know at the moment, they're robotic AIs. I'll send you and the other senior officers on the ground the details when we're back planetside. But nobody knows where they come from, or who made them. It's not old Covie stuff, not new Storm stuff, and I kind of doubt the Flood could've created them." I shrugged. "But hell, I could be wrong. That's up to the spook to determine. Our job is just to find a way to eliminate them."

"Holy shit," my husband said then. "A brand-new enemy. I was right."

"Yeah, you were. Rhodes said we're getting some reinforcements in in the next few days, too. So we're not completely screwed if things get crazy."

The one thing I didn't mention yet to my husband was the portals we'd found inside the ruins. I figured that was a need-to-know thing for now, and I didn't want him even more worried about me fighting on the ground.

Finally, Willis released a sigh. "What about my little brother, Coop? How's he holding up? I know he went inside those ruins with you guys. He gave me a pretty convincing line so I let him."

"He's fine," I answered sincerely. "He did pretty good with everything, even the new stuff." I gave him a look. "Kid's growing up."

"I know. That's what he said to me that convinced me. Said he was nineteen now, almost twenty, and that he'd already dealt with a lot on his own here on Khan in the years since he left Mars. It was time for me to let him off the leash."

I took my husband's hand and squeezed. "I'm glad you made that choice. He's more capable than you know. I think this'll be good for both of you."

"I hope so. It's just...hard to do, after what happened." He sucked in a deep breath. "I thought he was dead for all these years, so seeing him suddenly alive again...my protective instinct just increased tenfold."

"But you know he's okay now, Will. And you can both start to move on."

My husband nodded, and I lifted my hand then to run it through his short hair. He briefly closed his hazel eyes and pressed his head against it.

"You really have to work on that report now?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah. We don't have much time."

He opened his eyes and smirked at me as he reached for my hand, still in his hair. "Because I had something else in mind now that we're here."

I smirked, too. "I'm sure you do, but - "

Willis cut me off when he pulled me in for a kiss. It was soft and delicate at first, but still managed to stir something in both of us. It'd been a chaotic and emotion-filled past few days for us, first in dealing with my best friend's death, then gearing up for the assault on the island, and now knowing that we were facing something utterly unknown to us that we'd soon have to return groundside to fight. The unspoken news that we weren't going home as expected also put a damper on things. But the promotions had been nice, and I soon found that so was this.

Things heated up quickly from there, so fast that I momentarily forgot all about the report and simply focused on my husband's deep kisses and his touch. In minutes we'd clambered onto our bunk, already half-undressed, and shortly after that, we were both lost to a sea of passion.


	5. Chapter 4: Back to Work

**Chapter Four: Back to Work**

I could hear Willis's soft snores in the background as I spent the remaining time aboard ship typing up my report in our quarters. Twice I stopped writing and pushed my hands through my shoulder-length hair, let down for the moment and still damp from the fast shower I'd taken. I'd already included more clips of the initial encounter with our new enemy from my helmet cam feed as we'd approached the ruins in my missive, as well as the picture Lieutenant Lloyd had taken of the weapon we'd found in the dirt after one of the Promethean Knights was killed...or disintegrated or whatever it was they did. I knew the spook had already turned in the actual weapon to Captain Rhodes, to be sent back to some ONI facility for testing and study. But after a certain point, I realized with growing frustration that I just couldn't find the words to convey what I'd seen.

Thankfully, by that time I was almost done. I knew things wouldn't take much longer to wrap up despite my sudden lapse, so I decided to take a quick break and got up to go over to Willis. He looked peaceful sleeping on his back in our bed, and I couldn't help the small smile that came to my face. I hated that I had to wake him up so he could get ready to take us back groundside...but if I needed to do it, I was glad we were in a private space so I could do it like this.

I leaned down and kissed him softly on the lips, sliding a hand up to cup the side of his cheek. He had just a day's worth of stubble beginning to grow there, and the small hairs scraped lightly against my skin.

"Will, honey, wake up," I whispered.

Finally he stirred. I envied him that he'd had time to catch some zees after we'd finished, but I also realized that it was much harder to wake from a deep sleep than it was to just keep going and stay awake, like I had. My husband blinked up at me with his hazel eyes for a moment, looking beyond drowsy with his short hair mussed. Still, he looked so good I leaned in to kiss him again, a little harder this time.

That finally elicited a response as he kissed me back.

"What time is it?" he mumbled.

"Late evening planetside," I replied after checking my watch. "We should get back down soon. I'm almost done with my report. Sorry I had to wake you."

Willis just grinned, still sleepy. "As long as you wake me up like that, I have no problem with it." He pulled my face in closer this time and pressed his lips against mine. "I love you, Cooper."

"I love you, too, Will," I said with a smile. "But you should hurry if you want to shower before we go. I'll only be another few minutes here and then I'm gearing up."

"All right."

I watched as he slowly got up, swung his legs off the side of the bunk, and ran both hands across his face to try to come to full alertness. He hadn't been wearing anything while he'd slept beneath the sheets, so I stood there a moment to take in the sight, leaning back against the edge of the desk.

Willis glanced up and smirked as he caught me. "What?"

"Nothing," I answered slyly. "Like I said, getting back to my report now."

"Uh-huh." He paused to kiss the side of my neck as I turned. "Don't think I didn't notice you looking."

After pulling on a pair of boxers and his T-shirt, my husband stopped to grab a towel and then opened the hatch and left. I expected him back in about five minutes, so I hurried to sit back down at the desk and complete the report.

Downing the last dregs of my coffee, now cold, and stuffing the last bite of bar in my mouth, I returned to the task at hand. I finished describing the fight as best I could, made sure to mention the comments Lloyd had made about the portals inside the ruins, and tied it in with what I thought was happening with the Storm on the mainland, too - that they'd been getting their extra troops in through the portals, and that they'd eventually left the island not only because they had a vested interest in the rest of the planet like I'd initially thought, but also because they were being driven out by the Prometheans on Qamar. I ended the message with the skirmish that we'd been through earlier this afternoon, and then I was finally done.

And just in time, too. I heard the hatch open behind me again as soon as I hit "send" and Willis appeared, dressed in a fresh shirt and underclothes and sporting wet hair, which he vigorously toweled dry while he searched the room for his flight suit.

"Coop, have you seen my - "

"Over in the corner," I replied. Various articles of clothing had landed all over the room in our haste earlier. As it was, I searched for a few missing items myself now, since I had both my combat boots in hand, but no socks. Luckily though, all my important gear had been set aside sooner and was all in one place by the desk. I pulled out a fresh pair of socks from the closet and the two of us finished dressing in a hurry.

Once I put up my hair again with an elastic band, per regulations while in uniform, I started in on the heavier equipment, strapping on my torso armor over my battledress jacket and then picking up my helmet and DMR. Willis zipped his suit up to his neck and grabbed his helmet as well.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Yup." He leaned over to give me one last kiss, which I reciprocated. "I'll head down to the hangar bay and get the pre-flight checks started. You can go find the spook."

"Okay. I should be down in ten."

It was as we split off to go in opposite directions down the corridor that I wondered if this was what my new rank had in store for me now: more mission-planning, directing, and report-writing than actual groundside combat. I figured that was probably what was expected of me, but I'd never shied away from a fight before. I'd do what I had to to keep myself safe to be there for my family and my Marines, but I'd be in the thick of it just as often, always doing my part. I wasn't going to leave everything to my men and women while I sat back. That'd never been my style before, and an upgrade in rank wasn't going to change that.

* * *

Lieutenant Caleb Lloyd was hiding out in the officers' rec room on the ship when I found him. He wasn't holding a drink as he had the last time I'd run into him here a couple nights ago, but rather it looked like he was playing a round of solitaire with himself with a deck of real cards. I was faintly curious as to why he wasn't just using the program in his datapad, but as we both had more pressing duties to attend to, I didn't stop to ask.

"Lloyd, let's go," I said to him without preamble. "Pelican's waiting on us."

The spook, still dressed in his black ONI fatigues like before, got up right away and shoved the cards in his pocket. "Yes, ma'am. I'm ready."

"Any news from your sister?"

He nodded, looking much more relieved than he had been on the flight up. "Yeah. Got a letchip from her about an hour ago. Said they've been pretty busy so she couldn't send me anything sooner, but she's doing good."

"That's great. Ready to get back at it?"

He nodded. "Affirmative, Major."

I flashed my lapel at him then from beneath my chestplate. "Sounds like you've got some outdated info there, Lieutenant."

"Oh, wow. I'm sorry, ma'am. I meant _Colonel_. When did that happen? If I may ask."

"Just after you left. The admiral and Captain Rhodes thought we could use a revamp of the senior command after all the fighting that's happened. Fill holes in the roster and whatnot."

"I see. Well, congratulations, ma'am."

"Thanks," I said with a small grin. "Now come on. We've got to get moving."

* * *

The flight back to the planet's surface was a brief one, just as it had been going up. Despite the news that an additional UNSC vessel was going to be making its way to Khan in a few more days, there hadn't been any Storm activity out in orbit so far - none the entire time we'd been here, in fact. Although the _Suave Affair_ had encountered an enemy ship when we'd still been four days out, it had quickly been destroyed. Before today that conspicuous absence hadn't made much sense to me, as I figured a place so prized by the Remnant would have been attended to by more vessels. Now, though, I knew it was because the ex-Covies had something far better and more convenient up their sleeve - the use of the portals we'd found inside the ruins on Qamar.

And now, it was my job to make sure they couldn't return through that back door.

But first things first. As soon as I landed, I knew my first task was to get together with what was now my senior staff and make sure everyone was aware of their new positions, as well as our current situation.

When we hit dirt, I said my goodbyes to Willis and watched him take off into the air again, almost as fast as he'd touched down to let Lloyd and I disembark. I was left feeling disappointed that our brief interlude was over, but I knew there was plenty of business we both needed to attend to now on our own. So, shivering slightly in the cooler late evening breeze, I pulled on my helmet and opened up a COM channel to my aide.

"Porter? This is Cooper. I need you to gather at my coordinates now. We're back dirtside. Bring your squad along, too."

"Yes, ma'am," the staff sergeant replied. "We'll be there in three minutes."

True to his word, Staff Sergeant Porter arrived shortly, the rest of his team following behind. In the meantime, I'd sent messages to Captain Cole Warfield, in charge of the 904th, and my XO Captain Shawn Harris, who'd now become CO of the 8th Engineers in my place, to meet with us, too. I frowned as I knew the island landscape was nearly void of any adequate cover for the briefing, but I hoped that our presence beside our Scorpion tank and with the squad of Marines acting as security around us, we'd be okay.

So long as the Storm or Prometheans didn't appear out of thin air and drop a cannon round on us.

Knowing how dangerous gatherings of all the senior officers were on the battlefield, I kept it quick. We formed a circle amongst ourselves while Porter's squad kept up a loose perimeter around us, trying not to draw too much attention to the meeting, and crouched.

Captain Harris stooped next to me, while Warfield was on the other side.

"Congratulations on your promotion, ma'am," the dark-haired, dark-skinned Marine said.

"Thanks, Shawn," I responded. "But I wasn't the only one to get the rank up. The brass decided that you and Cole are due for promotions as well." I presented them both with the boxes of their new insignias, yet didn't dare show them off here in the open. "Congratulations. You two are now majors, and each CO of your respective battalions. Do us proud."

Harris seemed just as surprised as Willis and I had been aboard the _Affair_. At least outwardly, Warfield looked indifferent.

"Thank you, ma'am. This means a lot," Harris said.

The other captain replied gruffly, "Yeah. Thank you, Colonel."

Holding my DMR diagonally across my middle, barrel pointed low, I said, "Those weren't the only new developments. We finally got a name on what we're fighting now, too. They're called Prometheans. Everything else you need to know are in the data packets I've sent you. Do not share those with anyone other than your XOs. Use what you learn to direct your battalion, but try to gloss over the rest for now. We've still got our spook investigating things for us at the moment, so details are forthcoming."

Major Harris nodded, while Major Warfield remained silent, his own expression neutral.

"Anything happen that I need to know about while I was away?" I asked then.

"No, ma'am. Ever since the last few fighters, uh, teleported out, there's been nothing," my former XO replied.

"Cole?"

"Same at the designated fallback point, Colonel."

"Okay. That's good. But don't get too complacent. Those ruins aren't just for show, so make sure you keep your heads on a swivel at all times and watch for movement. It's not guaranteed that the Storm won't come back, either."

"What are your orders, ma'am?" Warfield questioned.

"Maintain your positions for now," I answered. "I know everybody's tired from the assault today. You all did well. Make sure your troops get some rest, grab a bite to eat, and remember to rotate the companies you've got out on perimeter watch and patrol duty. Harris, you're near the ruins, so stay extra sharp."

"Yes, ma'am."

"When do we make our next move?"

"You'll learn in your data packet that we've got a friendly ship due to arrive in orbit soon. Should be just another couple days out now. If things look quiet, we sit tight till they get here and try to coordinate with the civilian scientists to give them access to the ruins, see what intel they can gather for us. If things are hot, we clear the area and make sure everything's secure before they fly in." I shifted my weight then as just the thought of what I was about to say next brought on the beginnings of a headache. "And tomorrow I'll be heading back to the mainland to talk to Mayor Laraza in Redwood Falls."

Major Cole Warfield immediately scoffed. "That asshat? Why?"

It didn't escape my notice that again, the newly-minted major didn't include the honorific.

"Because I believe the local population deserves to know what's at their doorstep, Major," I said with a slight edge in my voice. "Regardless of whom they've elected to lead them. Any more questions?"

"No, ma'am," Harris replied.

Warfield just shook his head.

"All right. Get back to your battalions then. Go through those packets tonight and brief your men in the morning. Remember to give them the short version only - just info on the types of new enemies they can expect to see. The rest is need-to-know."

Harris nodded curtly and left, heading back to the 8th Engineers up the hill. Warfield, on the other hand, remained.

"Something else, Cole?" I asked him.

"Yes, ma'am," he said, turning to face me directly now. "I just wanted to say I respected my CO Major Hayden a great deal, and I hope to follow in his footsteps."

"He was a good man," I said quietly. "A great friend, and an even better field officer. You'd do well to follow his example."

Warfield acknowledged my words with a slight nod - and a faint sneer that I didn't catch until he'd finished speaking. "That's true, Colonel," he said as he turned to leave. "The person I can't say I respect yet is you."


	6. Chapter 5: More Than the Eye Can See

**Chapter Five: More Than the Eye Can See**

Not even the new major's words could keep me this side of sleep when I finally found a spot to lie down and rest in the cool island night. I'd made all the preparations against further attack that I could, issued all the orders I could think of, and now all there was left to do was wait and see what the next day had in store for us. I was glad for the brief respite and took advantage, eventually dozing off beneath one of the blown-out palm trees that had weathered the fighting earlier, once again surrounded by Porter's squad for my protection. My last thought before I went to sleep was how much I missed the bed in my quarters on the _Affair_, and Willis sleeping beside me. Then I was out.

I didn't know how long I'd been asleep when the sudden sound of loud gunfire and heavy movement woke me. As soon as I got up I noticed my aide was already crouched just in front of me, his weapon held to bear with the remainder of his squad on alert around us. My pulse spiked at all the noise despite myself, though after a moment of careful listening, it sounded like the activity wasn't directed at us. I hefted my DMR but held the gun loosely in my hands.

"Josh?" I whispered in the dark, just before I tapped my helmet with one hand to open up the night vision suite so I could see better. "What's going on?"

My aide answered without looking back, keeping his total focus on what lay in front of us. "Don't know yet, ma'am. Just heard the sounds and got up, same as you. I'd respectfully suggest – "

"Wait one, Staff," I said, cutting him off. "Let me get a hold of the major."

"Yes, ma'am."

Much as I wanted to avoid contact with the newly promoted Warfield, for obvious reasons, I knew I couldn't at a time like this. Something was happening, maybe not here but fairly close by, and I wanted to know about it.

"Major Warfield, this is Lieutenant Colonel Cooper. Please respond."

The response wasn't immediate, but not too delayed, either.

"Warfield here."

"We're hearing gunfire and movement up here near the ridge, Major," I said. "Any idea what it's about?"

"Yes, Colonel. One of my companies is currently engaged with hostiles as we speak."

"I can see that. Storm or Prometheans?"

"Storm, ma'am."

I could tell he'd forced himself to say that last word – he could only go so long excluding it before it bordered on insubordination, and he knew that. Major Warfield may have been a bit of an ass but he wasn't stupid. Though I wanted to let out a frustrated sigh at his behavior, I swallowed it down and continued as if nothing were amiss. There were much bigger fish to fry at the moment.

And, truth be told, I was kind of relieved we were facing our old enemies again rather than the tough and still-mysterious new ones. Though it was surprising that the Remnant had suddenly reappeared so soon.

"Right," I replied. Then, gripping my rifle tighter, I added, "Send the location to my HUD, Major. My security detail and I are heading out to take a look. In the meantime, you stay with the rest of your battalion, Cole, and let me know if anything else crops up."

"Acknowledged, Colonel."

The major's response was gruff and strained, as I'd expected it to be. I inwardly sighed. If we were going to be working closely together from now on along with my former XO, I knew our dynamic had to change – and I still had no clue what he thought I'd done wrong. So I finally decided to call him out on it.

"Warfield," I said in a purposefully easygoing tone, "if we've got a problem here, we better solve it now."

The only answer I received, however, was a brusque, "Later." Then the connection cut.

Though the new major's attitude continued to vex me, I pushed all other thoughts aside for now and focused solely on the task at hand – finding out how and why the Storm had shown up again, and making sure we gave those bastards a one-way ticket to their graves like the others. I turned to face Porter again as soon as the coordinates and a waypoint were uploaded to my HUD.

Tapping his shoulder, I ordered, "Staff, let's move."

* * *

Since I'd decided to stop and rest closest to Warfield's battalion's lines upon landing, it didn't take us long to arrive on scene. The closer we got to the fighting, the louder the sounds of weapons' discharge got – and the closer Porter's squad of Marines got to hovering around me. I finally had to order them to spread out a little more and give me room to maneuver and see what was going on, although the flashes of bright plasma lighting up the night sky made it pretty plain to see.

Somewhere down below the edge of the ridge, there were Storm troops.

Searching through the FOF tags on my HUD, my helmet's electronics zeroed in on the highest-ranking Marine officer present in the skirmish, a captain, and I instantly opened up a COM channel to her as I crept my way closer to edge.

"Captain Sogaard, this is Lieutenant Colonel Cooper," I said over the radio, trying my best to block out the sounds of the fight all around us. "Want to give me a sitrep?"

"Yes, ma'am," the female officer replied in a hurry. "My company and I were tasked to take over patrol duties about an hour ago, to make sure the lines were quiet. It was our turn. One of the squads circled close to the edge and spotted the Storm below. I guess a jumpy private opened up before further orders could be issued, and here we are, Colonel."

"I see. Enemy strength?"

"It's hard to tell from up here, ma'am. We'd have to get down there to know for sure. I can tell you now that they're giving my company a run for their money, though."

"_Dammit_." And here I'd been hoping for at least a few hours of peace without any activity. It seemed the island was constantly swarming with one group of baddies or another – and this was supposedly _after_ we'd already defeated the larger unit of Remnant troops that had remained.

"Colonel? Orders?"

"Keep up the fire, Captain," I answered. "I'll bring in another platoon to help, along with some sharpshooters. Just sit tight for now, Marine."

"Yes, ma'am."

I could have called in the tankers, too, as well as the 'Hogs left, since the 904th Battalion still had a full complement of armor and vehicles at their disposal. But because of the angle, and because the Storm troops were firing from down below on the beach, I knew anything other than foot soldiers would likely be useless. I didn't want to bring Willis and his squadron – no, _squadrons_, I reminded myself – into this, either. Not so long as our ground troops were able to handle it on their own. I wanted to save our heavy hitters for when we truly needed them.

I figured the extra manpower and snipers I called in would be enough to help level the playing field on the ridge. I'd allocate more resources from there if I felt we needed it.

Only once my commands were issued did I turn my attention back to the fight going on around me. I noticed that in the meantime, Staff Sergeant Porter and his squad had inched up close to the edge and were already firing their weapons at a frenetic pace, tagging the Storm troops from high above and sending their bodies sprawling onto the sandy rocks beneath us, bright sprays of multi-colored blood bursting in the dark night.

Finally bringing my own rifle to bear, I crouched beside one of my aide's Marines and joined the fray myself. With my helmet's night vision, I was able to zoom in on targets below through my weapon's scope and see them all clear as day – though the image was an eerie green rather than full color.

All along the beach, various aliens fired up at us with their plasma weapons, the smaller Jackals and Grunts mostly taking refuge behind the rocks, the larger Elites stepping forward fearlessly to squeeze off deadly glowing orbs of plasma at us. I took careful aim at the first enemy fighter I spotted – a Grunt that had foolishly followed one of the Elites out of cover – and pulled the trigger.

My DMR's initial burst stopped the alien in its tracks, making it stumble backward, but it was my follow-up shot that did him in. As its small body bucked back against the sandy ground, I noticed the Elite glance up and roar as more and more of its comrades were slain. Even from this distance, zoomed in with my scope I could tell he was gunning for me now. Acting fast, I quickly flattened myself against the dirt to avoid getting shot.

It was a good thing I did. If I'd remained crouching where I was, I would've had plasma-sized hole in my neck now.

I knew the shot hadn't actually come from the Elite, though. The thin, tight purple beam of plasma wasn't a round that emerged from a weapon they usually carried. It was a beam rifle shot, for marksman – that meant Jackals. And since I'd already been on the receiving end of not one but _two_ of their sniper rounds – from one of the UNSC's own damn guns – and barely survived, I wasn't exactly itching to be the recipient of a third.

So, through the open COM I shouted, "Marines, we've got sharpshooters down below! Watch it! Snipers, target them first! Let's go!"

From there the skirmish continued to be an odd exchange, since we obviously had the high ground advantage, but the Storm below seemed to have the edge as far as strength went. As our own numbers climbed once the reinforcement platoon arrived, though, the tide started to turn.

A few of the Marines beside me even pulled grenades from their web belts, primed them, and tossed them down onto the beach. That was a tactic the Remnant couldn't use on us in their current position, though most of the Elites saw the explosives coming and dodge-rolled out of the way, while Jackals simply hid behind their shields and took it. Only some unlucky and particularly oblivious Grunts managed to get the brunt of those attacks, and they paid for their inattention with bursting body parts and light blue blood that splattered onto the rocks and sand.

Still, though, the Jackal sharpshooters continued to do the most damage to own lines. Several Marines firing onto the sand from the edge of the ridge were shot in the head despite my warning and their own caution, caught unaware as they reloaded or momentarily forgot in the heat of the moment about the alien snipers below. Others who stood taller were tagged in the stomach. The lucky ones tumbled backward against the ground and were immediately attended to by medics who could try to save them. A couple others, however, fell forward and were inevitably killed by the sharp drop, their screams ringing in my ears even amid the constant cacophony of battle. A cold shiver went down my spine.

It was as I crawled up to the edge myself once more, careful not to get brained by a Jackal round, that I heard the female captain's voice over my COM again.

"Colonel Cooper, they're falling back! Look!"

At her words my first instinct was obviously to do just that, but I didn't want my curiosity to get me killed. I still pulled myself closer to the edge slowly, and only once I felt it was safe did I bring my rifle level to the beach below again and take a good look through the scope.

Now that the Storm were on the run, disappearing into some outcrop underneath us where we couldn't reach or bolting off to the side over the rocks close to where the ocean waves languidly lapped at the shore, I could see just how much carnage we'd managed to leave behind in their lines. Alien bodies littered the area below, while several different colors of blood and discarded plasma weapons decorated the sandy ground. The number of Remnant troops that were suddenly taking off was rather small, too, in comparison to the amount we'd been fighting when I'd first gotten here.

Still, that didn't mean I was about to let them leave. I'd thought we'd already taken care of the Storm problem on the island, and the 8th Engineer Battalion was guarding the entrance to the portals we'd found in the ruins earlier – so I knew for sure that the extra Storm hadn't come in through there. That left me wondering where these guys had been hiding out this whole time, and why they'd chosen now to make their presence known.

"Cease fire, cease fire!" one of the lieutenants nearby shouted over the radio then, while the alien warriors below us continued their retreat.

I immediately keyed the COM again. "Belay that, Marines! Tag as many as you can get while they're running! We're going after them!"

Acknowledgment lights winked green across my HUD, and our lines suddenly erupted in a rattling chorus of weapons' fire again. Besides the regulars, a few friendly snipers tagged Grunts left and right as they scrambled over the rocks, dropping them hard and fast. The Elites were tougher to get, and the Jackals too clever and quick, but one or two of each of them were taken down as well. I let loose a final burst myself at one of the Jackals, trying hard to take him out since I still had a grudge against the bastards who'd almost succeeded at taking my life for access to better weaponry, but my shot went wide. I muttered a curse to myself and ducked to reload, my clip spent.

In just a few more minutes the last act of the skirmish was over. One way or another, every single one of the Remnant troops down on the beach had suddenly disappeared out of the fight. I knew we had to move fast if we wanted to catch up, so now that we were no longer actively getting shot at, I pushed myself up to my knees as soon as I finished reloading and started shouting orders again.

"Snipers, stay on the ridge! You provide us with overhead coverage while we go in, clear?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Captain Sogaard?"

"Colonel?"

"Take one of your platoons and get them to gear up. I want them to rappel down to the beach and go after those alien sons o' bitches. Have the rest of your men follow once the ropes are clear, squad by squad, till everyone's on the shore. I'll get Major Warfield to charge another company with patrol duty."

"Right away, ma'am!"

I turned to Staff Sergeant Porter next. Grabbing the seasoned yet relatively young noncom by his shoulder, I said, "Josh?"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"You, too. Get your squad together. We're going down with them."

Porter seemed worried about my involvement, as usual. "Colonel, I don't – "

"_Now_, Staff."

"Yes, ma'am."

While my aide busied himself with readying his Marines, I opened up another channel. "Major Warfield, this is Lieutenant Colonel Cooper. The skirmish is over for now but I'm taking your company after the Storm. I want to know exactly where these bastards are coming from, and how many more we might have to fight. Get another one of your companies to saddle up and get out there on patrol. Tell them to stay sharp. We might get more Remnant troops popping out of someplace else, or maybe even the Prometheans again. Prepare for anything."

I knew the major likely hated the position I'd just put him in, but he had no choice but to swallow it and deal with it, unless he wanted to spend the remainder of our time here on Khan in the brig aboard the _Affair_. If he ever outright ignored one of my orders, he knew that was going to be the last straw for him.

"Yes, ma'am. I'll get it done," he said in a none-too-happy tone.

"Good. Cooper out."

After that, while the rest of the Marines got ready to rappel down the edge of the rise to the beach, I had just one more order of business to attend to. I keyed the COM again, this time opening up a channel to our resident spook.

"Lieutenant Lloyd? It's Cooper."

He answered quickly. "Colonel?"

"Meet me on the ridge, Lieutenant. I'm tagging our location to your HUD now, though I'm sure you've heard what's been going on."

"Yes, ma'am. I was wondering what all the ruckus was. More Prometheans?"

I let out a sigh. "Nope. Not this time, thankfully. It's actually the Storm. Looks like we didn't clean house as thoroughly as I thought with our assault."

"Well, to be fair, that was hard to do without knowing about the chamber under the ruins, ma'am. Now we know they've got more places to hide than just the surface."

"Yeah," I said with a little dejection in my voice. "That's what I was afraid of."

_As if the fucking Prometheans weren't enough,_ I thought to myself with a frown.


	7. Chapter 6: Forging Ahead

**Chapter Six: Forging Ahead**

**0459 Hours, February 10, 2558. Qamar Island Ridge, Planet Khan. "The Next Step," Outer Colonies. Prologue to the Dawn of the Prometheans**

Staff Sergeant Porter and his squad continued to hold a fairly tight formation around me even after the skirmish was over, much to my chagrin. I didn't complain though, since I knew they were just doing their jobs and trying to keep my ass safe – no easy task when I was never much one for staying out of the thick of things.

Already geared up for the climb down to the beach themselves, my aide's squad and I both stood waiting for Captain Sogaard's first platoon to begin their descent. In the brief lull, I pulled back my battledress sleeve a bit to check my watch in the dark. Almost 0500. _The sun should be coming up in another hour or so,_ I thought.

And it was also time for me to take my meds. I wasn't sure how long or involved our expedition might be, so I knew it was better to take them now than possibly end up having to go without later. Quickly, before anyone else noticed, I pulled one of the bottles out of my battledress pants and shook out a small pill. Then I stuffed the container back in my cargo pocket and pulled out the other, frowning as I realized that this one looked like it was starting to run low.

The first had my birth control pills in it; the second contained my meds for the nightmares. Without the latter, I wouldn't've so much slept as woken up crying and shaking earlier – not helpful for a field officer of any rank, much less mine. I knew I'd have to ask Willis to get me more from the _Suave Affair_ next time he went up for supplies. I couldn't afford to have a PTSD episode in the field.

As for the meds I took for more intimate matters, I breathed a discreet sigh of relief when I saw that I still had a pretty decent supply. I'd stopped taking the birth control pills for a while when Doc Reynolds said he'd rendered them more or less useless by way of other drugs when he'd been treating my gunshot wounds, so there were plenty left.

Unfortunately the medic had imparted that key information to me a little late, but thankfully nothing had come of it. Otherwise I would've been aboard the _Affair_ now, manning a desk instead of down here on the ground, where I preferred to be – although I'd found out yesterday morning before the assault that my husband would've liked that. Willis was all for having another kid, and while I wasn't against it myself, I'd told him it needed to be at the right time. Clearly, this was not.

"Colonel Cooper?"

Startled out of my thoughts, I turned faster than I should have, rapidly shoving the second pill bottle deep in my pockets as I did so. I relaxed when I saw it was just the spook, though. Being an ONI operative, he already knew everything there was to know about me – maybe even more than I did myself. With him, I knew there was nothing I needed to hide.

"What do you need, Cal?" I asked, unhooking my canteen from my web belt and taking a long swig to chase down the two pills.

"We're ready now, ma'am," Lieutenant Caleb Lloyd answered. "Sogaard is going to let her platoon get established on the beach first, then once the area's secure she said they'd send for you and your squad. If all goes well, it should take less than four minutes."

I chuckled humorlessly at that as I put my canteen away. "It wasn't too long ago that I was in Sogaard's position, you know. Even with a company command I would've been going down to that beach first along with my Marines. It sucks to have to sit back now and wait for things to get settled before I go in."

"I understand, ma'am. But if you don't want to think of it as being for your _own_ protection, think of it as insurance for all the Marines here on the island instead." He looked at me with his blue eyes in the dark. "We need you, Colonel. All of us."

"What all of us really needed was the late Major Hayden here with me," I replied quietly. "He knew the ropes even better than I do and had five years' worth of experience on me. He should've been the one to take over."

"Well, the major's not here anymore, ma'am. We've got you, and I don't think anyone here thinks you're a lesser substitute."

_Except for Major Warfield, apparently,_ I thought. But that was enough second-guessing for one day; it was time to get some work done. I stuck a thumb between my DMR's strap and my shoulder and glanced over at the edge of the ridge again, watching as the first squad of one of Sogaard's platoons began to rappel their way down to the beach. I knew it wouldn't be long now until the rest of the platoon was with them, and then, it'd be my turn.

* * *

Just as Lloyd had said, only a few minutes went by from when the Marines touched sand to when the highest-ranking among them, a second lieutenant, hailed me from beneath the ridge.

"Colonel Cooper, this is Second Lieutenant Gage Embers," the Marine said over the COM. "Shore's all clear, ma'am. No activity so far."

"That's good to hear, Lieutenant," I responded. "Wait one and hold there for now. We'll be down shortly."

"Yes, ma'am."

Keeping my weapon slung behind me, I quickly adjusted the strap so that it was positioned diagonally across my back now instead of just hanging off my good shoulder, barrel pointed low. After that, I joined my aide and his squad at the edge of the drop to the beach.

"With your permission, ma'am, I'd like to send my squad down first," Porter said to me as I approached. "We'll provide cover for you and the spook till you're on the ground."

I smiled wryly at the overabundance of caution. "You gonna wrap me up in a bulletproof pod, too, Josh?"

The staff sergeant briefly grinned back. "Can't say it wouldn't've helped a little when you got shot at the outpost, Colonel."

"Touché, Staff." I finally let out a sigh and nodded. "Okay. Let's do it your way then. Lieutenant Lloyd and I will follow."

"Understood, ma'am."

Again I watched with impatience as even more Marines descended to the shore without me. It didn't take long for Porter and his squad to get down, though, and soon Lloyd and I were pulling the ropes under our haunches, preparing to push off.

Once the grip was tight beneath my gloved hands, I said, "Cal? You ready?"

"Affirmative, Colonel," the spook replied.

"All right. Let's go."

We both pushed off with our boots and let the rope go for a while as we shot down toward the beach. About a fourth of the way down both of us pulled hard on the rope again, stopping our rapid descent and swinging back toward the face of the cliff to push off a second time with our feet. We did that twice more till we finally reached the bottom and let go.

I opened up a channel to Captain Sogaard then, glad to have my boots back on solid ground. "The initial scouting party's hit the sand, Captain. Go ahead and send down the rest of your company as soon as you can. We'll get started in the meantime."

"Acknowledged, Colonel."

"Make sure the sharpshooters up on the ridge continue to keep a lookout for us as well. Our field of vision down here's pretty limited because of the outcrop."

"Yes, ma'am."

As soon as the connection cut, I looked around myself for the first time while I tore off my gloves. The sound of the waves crashing against the shore was much louder here on the beach, as expected – that'd make it hard for us to listen for anything hostile that might be approaching. We wouldn't hear it until it was too late. I realized then that while we were down here, we'd have to rely more on our extra sets of eyes up on the ridge than I would've liked.

There was also the minimal threat posed by the rocks and tide itself – closest to the water there was only wet sand, but when the tide rose, we'd be clambering on top of the uneven rocks that made up the ground near the cliff. They'd be wet, too, and slippery. It'd be tough terrain to fight in if we had to.

"Ma'am, what are your orders?" Second Lieutenant Embers asked then. "Which direction to do want us to go in?"

Stuffing my gloves back in my pockets, I pulled my DMR off my back and into my hands again, holding the rifle loosely as I replied. "Take half your platoon to the right, Lieutenant. That's where most of the Storm bastards ran off. I want you to recon only while you're on your own, though. You let me know the moment you've got eyes on and I'll send you some backup before you're clear to engage. We'll have more men down here by then to spread out."

"Yes, ma'am."

"As for the rest of your Marines, they're coming with me for now. I noticed some other Remnant troops run this way, underneath this overhang," I said, pointing upward at the formation several feet ahead of us. "There's got to be a cave or something that way and I want to find out if that's where they were coming from."

"Got it, Colonel. We'll get it done."

"I know you will, Embers. Good luck."

The young second lieutenant nodded and jogged over to the right then to gather two of his squads before setting off. The remainder he sent my way, as ordered. Once the Marines were assembled, I had the most experienced fireteam take point, while Lieutenant Lloyd and I followed close behind. Porter's squad surrounded the two of us, and the rest of Embers' Marines made up the rear guard.

The ocean waves to our left appeared a dark green in my night vision as we marched carefully across the beach, our boots sinking lightly into the water-saturated sand. Meanwhile, gentle undulations licked at the shore, washing away some of the alien blood that colored the area after our brief skirmish – but not the bodies. Those remained throughout the shoreline beneath the ridge, too heavy to be carried out to sea while the ocean was so placid.

Among the corpses and chunks of alien flesh, a few human bodies were sprinkled here and there, too – Marines who'd been shot and were unlucky enough to have fallen forward off the cliff. I wanted to avert my eyes as I saw the red blood mixing with the blues and purples of the Remnant's in the water, but I couldn't. It was a scene I'd witnessed many times before in my near-eleven years as a Marine, and I suddenly found it strange that even after all that, the sight still made me uneasy.

"Poor guys," Lloyd murmured beside me.

"Yeah," I said just as softly. "Getting shot's bad enough. Landing on those rocks is worse."

A voice flooded into my helmet then, cutting off whatever the spook may have replied. It was the Marine at the head of the column.

"Colonel, we've reached the overhang. Or, you know, under it. There's a cave entrance here, ma'am. What do you want us to do?"

"We go inside, Sergeant," I answered without hesitation. "Let's see if those ex-Covies are home." _Or maybe our new friends…_

* * *

My night vision dulled as I took my first steps inside the cave – and I also noticed that the temperature dropped by about ten degrees. It was freezing in here.

"Damn," I said to the Navy lieutenant next to me as we walked, searching the walls ahead for activity. "Should've brought a parka. I'll have to pack that next time."

Lloyd chuckled. "Doesn't help when there's water dripping on our heads, too, Colonel. Feel that?"

A wet smack landed on my bare hands and I shivered again. Other large gobs pattered against my uniform and helmet, though I couldn't feel those quite yet. It'd take a large amount of droplets to penetrate military-grade clothing and equipment.

"Yeah," I responded. "I'm pretty sure it's not raining in here, so where's it coming from?"

"The ceiling, ma'am."

"Great," I muttered. "A dark, dripping cave. Any more omens you'd like to add to the list?"

"How about _that_?"

I glanced up and almost jumped when a series of lights suddenly lit up the narrow passageway – and nearly blinded me in the process. I quickly switched off my night vision and raised my rifle, but in moments saw that there was nothing to aim at. Not in here, at least.

"Sergeant? Any contacts?" I asked the Marine up at point.

"No, ma'am!" he answered in agitation. "But someone's gotta know we're here!"

"Not necessarily, Marine. Could be automatic."

I looked over at the spook and we exchanged a glance. We'd both seen the same thing inside the ruins, in the big room where the portals were. I knew what this meant before Lloyd even said it.

"This must lead back to the main chamber, ma'am."

I frowned. "But we checked that out. It didn't look like there were any outlets from inside."

"That just means they're hidden pretty well. If you remember, Colonel, we didn't really get a good look at anything when we were in there, just a cursory glance until the Prometheans attacked topside again and we all had to rush out."

"Fuck. So now the Storm have access to this and we don't?"

It was a rhetorical question, and the ONI operative didn't answer. Lloyd had warned me about this earlier, when we'd first approached the ruins, but it hadn't looked like anything like this was possible after going inside. Now it seemed it was. That meant that the 8th Engineers weren't as safe as I thought, and that we really didn't have the only entrance to the portals covered. The Remnant still had access. I knew we had to shut this down right away.

"Marines, keep heading inside," I said over the COM. "I'll send another platoon in after you for backup. Let me know when you reach the end. I want this cave mapped out, _now_."

I waited for the acknowledgment lights to wink green across my HUD. Then I grabbed Staff Sergeant Porter by the shoulder as he walked past and turned him around.

"Staff, your squad and the spook and I are leaving. I need to make sure no one goes in after these Marines while they're scoping things out. The Storm are still out there."

"Yes, ma'am."

When we emerged back out onto the beach, I flipped my night vision back on. The considerably warmer air was also a welcome relief. The implications of what we'd just found, however, were not. I opened up a channel to Second Lieutenant Embers.

"Find anything yet?" I asked him.

"That's a negative, Colonel. No sign of the Storm bastards, although I'm not sure where they might've disappeared to this fast."

"I've got some ideas," I muttered. "Make sure there's no caves along the shore over there, Lieutenant. If you find one, tag its location and sent it to me _immediately._ Then sit tight. Do _not_ go inside without my express order, is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Good. Cooper out."

I cut the connection then and instantly ordered the remainder of Sogaard's company, still on its way down, to maintain watch at the cave's entrance. If the passage did lead to the main chamber beneath the ruins as Lloyd supposed, and I believed it, then we'd have to find a way to keep the Storm from using it. I knew the task was easier said than done, but we couldn't afford to give the ex-Covies that kind of advantage – especially not with the Prometheans still roaming the island somewhere, too.

Although I hated to leave all this to my Marines and not help out more myself, I knew I couldn't be in two places at once – and there were still other things I needed to get into motion for now. Much as I was reluctant to do so, I had to leave the rest of this up to Captain Sogaard and possibly Major Warfield, while I needed to return up to the ridge.

With an exaggerated sigh, I looked over at the spook again.

"Cal? Ready to climb back up?"

He flashed me an equally dismayed expression.

"Well, if we have to do it, no time like the present, ma'am."


	8. Chapter 7: Friend of an Enemy

**Chapter Seven: Friend of an Enemy**

After making the arduous climb back onto the ridge with the ropes, I immediately got into contact with my other battalion commander and former XO, Major Shawn Harris. Since the 8th Engineers were closest to the ruins, I figured he more than anyone needed to know what we'd just discovered down below on the beach – and be sure he was aware that his unit needed to be ready for anything. Harris took the information in stride, as I knew he would, and assured me that he'd take the necessary precautions. Satisfied with the response, I cut the connection, then quickly opened up a new channel – this time to our air commander.

"Talon, it's Cooper. How're the skies looking, Major?"

"Dark but clear, Colonel, although it's starting to brighten up a little now ahead of the sunrise," Willis replied. "I saw some firefights going on down there a while ago. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said. "For now, anyway. Things just…keep getting more and more interesting around here is all."

"Those new Promethean guys?"

"No. We found out the Storm are back. Looks like that larger force we fought and defeated here yesterday wasn't the last of them."

"Shit. So what now?"

I shrugged to myself, though I knew he couldn't see it. "We root out the rest."

"How did more even show up?"

Willis didn't know about the portals yet, and I still wasn't comfortable spreading the news to everyone, knowing what that might do to morale. "We're looking into it. Listen, Will, I don't have much time to chat. Just keep your eyes peeled up there and be ready to get called in if you're needed."

"Yes, ma'am," my husband responded, although I could tell from his tone that he was a little put out by my evasive answer. I felt bad about it, but the situation was what it was. Until the new UNSC ship came in and we all had to help the scientists get into the ruins to scope them out, I wasn't about to blow open the lid on everything before I needed to.

Sometimes being in charge sucked.

"Anything else, Colonel?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'm going to need your brother for something on the mainland. Are you okay with that?"

"Depends what it is, Coop."

"Well, much as I'd like to avoid it, I need to go meet with Mayor Laraza about what we found here. Bring him up to speed on our new enemies and stuff. Matt used to be a reb and he knows his way around the city, so I'd like to have him back me up over there."

My husband sighed. "All right. As long as you have each other's six. And tell that Laraza bastard that if he tries hitting on my wife again, his next meeting's going to be with my fist."

I chuckled. "Will do, honey. Although if I don't come out riddled with bullets, I'll already consider that a success. He's alternately charming and homicidal so you never know what you're going to get."

"Just stay safe, Cooper."

"You, too, Talon. Cooper out."

* * *

Shortly after our talk, a Pelican landed nearby for me and Matthew to jog into. I would've loved to have brought Willis along, just to see the look on Laraza's face when my husband stared him down, but I knew that wasn't possible. Willis had his own command to attend to, so the job fell to one of his pilots instead.

I didn't realize he'd sent someone I knew until the back hatch opened up.

"Welcome aboard, Colonel," Captain Heat, Willis's best friend, said to me with a grin. "I know I'm not the man of your dreams, but I hope I can be a suitable replacement for this flight."

Matthew shot me a look, and I jokingly clamped my hands over his ears.

"Heat, this is my brother-in-law. Impressionable mind."

"Oh." Anyone else would've looked sheepish, but not Heat. He just stuck out his hand at the younger Hawk. "Captain Brandon Heat, kid. I'm your brother's wingman and his best buddy. I promise I'm not trying to steal his wife."

"Heat just likes to act like an idiot sometimes," I said to Willis's little brother as I released my hold on his head and moved to take a seat. "You just have to get used to it." Still, I held up my left hand and pointed to my wedding ring then as Matthew sat down beside me. "Visual aid, Brandon, in case you forget."

The captain laughed and turned back towards the cockpit. "It's okay, Cooper. I see it on Willis's finger all the time. I know you're off-limits."

Matthew and I sat in silence for a moment as we listened to the transport's engines spooling up. My brother-in-law still had a frown on his face.

"I don't like our pilot, Nat," he said to me petulantly.

I waved a dismissive hand at him. "He's been Willis's best friend since flight school. We've all known each other for a long time. He's a good guy. Helped us out with Gabriel a few times too in the past when we got in a bind."

"My nephew, you mean?"

"Yep, your oldest one."

The engines got louder and we finally lifted off. Heat's voice came flooding through the intercom in the troop bay soon after, no doubt trying to keep my mind occupied since he knew how nervous I got about flying. I was already trying my best not to fiddle with anything on my person, so as not to give away my anxious state of mind to Matt.

"So how're the kids, Natalie?"

"Doing good, last we heard," I replied. "They're staying with Willis's parents on Mars while we're gone." A small smile came to my face unbidden. "Did Will tell you we might be getting another pilot in the family soon?"

"One of your sons?"

"Our daughter," I answered.

Captain Heat chuckled. "Yup, already knew about that one. Willis would bring her by the airbase sometimes back on Earth, while they waited for you to get off-duty for the evening. Gabe and Liam would look around for a bit and lose interest, but not her. Liv got her little hands into everything and wanted to know what each part of the ship did."

My smile widened. "Sounds like her. She keeps drawing pictures of anything airborne at daycare with her piloting inside." I shrugged. "Olivia looks almost exactly like me but when it comes to that, she takes right after her dad. I don't know."

"You think Liam or Gabe might want to become a grunt like their mom?"

I snorted. "I hope not. If they do, I'll try to steer them down another path." I let out a sigh. "Don't get me wrong; I love being a Marine and if I had to do it all over again, I'd do it in a heartbeat, with no second thoughts. It's a part of me, in my blood. But it also comes with a lot of hardships I wouldn't want my kids to endure."

Heat's voice sobered when he spoke again. "You must miss the three of them a lot, huh?"

"More than you know, Heat."

"Willis does, too. He talks about them all the time. And you."

To keep the sudden hurt from engulfing me, I bumped shoulders with my brother-in-law. "See? You're getting to learn some about your niece and nephews." I leaned back against the bulkhead and closed my eyes then before he could reply. "Hopefully this'll be over soon, so we can all get back home and see them again."

* * *

When we touched down on mainland Khan near the city of Redwood Falls, it was a bittersweet moment. Part of me almost missed the place we'd called home for the past few months, since the terrain was so similar to my homeplanet of Mars, but another part hated being back to the scene of so much carnage and heartache. Outpost Columbia, where we'd originally been stationed, had been destroyed well before our departure for the island. I'd taken two sniper rounds through the back and nearly died here. And, most importantly, my own best friend had lost his life in the forest, yet another victim of the ex-Covenant.

Emotions bubbled up inside me for a moment, but I quickly swallowed them down. I kept a tight grip on my DMR's strap as it hung off my shoulder to steel myself, then stepped forward off the craft.

Turning to Heat, I said, "Hold here with the bird, Captain. We should be back in less than an hour. Seal it up tight in the meantime. You never know."

"Yes, ma'am," the seasoned pilot replied. "I'll just sit back and keep an ear on the radio chatter."

"Good idea." I glanced over at Willis's baby brother next. "Matt, get rid of the gun. Then see if you can tell me where this address is."

Matthew Hawk looked at me incredulously for a moment when I told him to ditch his MA5D, but he soon noticed from my expression that I was serious. It already seemed suspicious enough that I was bringing my DMR, but having been Laraza's target before, I wasn't about to part with my firearms. That, in his own quirky way, I knew the mayor would understand. Taking along an armed double he would not.

As soon as Matt set the assault rifle down in the Pelican's troop bay, I handed him the small scrap of paper with the address and we started off. He read it as I kept my eyes scanning ahead and around us for movement – any sign that this was an ambush or that we weren't really welcome in the city anymore.

I knew Major Oliver Hayden would've called me nuts for even taking the chance, especially with the twin bullet scars still visible on my left shoulder and chest. The one thing my late best friend and I hadn't always seen eye-to-eye on was how to handle the locals – namely the local rebels. Having fought them out here in the Outer Colonies shortly after the War ended, Hayden hadn't wanted anything to do with them. To him they were simply our enemies as much as the Storm, nothing more. To me, they were still people, and I'd tried my best during our time here to reach out and help broker a peace between us.

It had worked when we'd pooled our resources to defeat the Remnant forces here on the mainland, which would have certainly annihilated us had we tried to fight them separately. The moment that battle was over, however, Laraza had made it clear to me that the truce was void once we left for Qamar – and that while he wouldn't follow us to the island and attack us there, we'd better not come back. His tune seemed to have changed now given the urgent message I'd sent him about the meeting, but with him, you could never be sure.

"Um, Natalie?" Matthew asked beside me then. "You sure this is the right place?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well…it looks like you're meeting in a nightclub."

I frowned. "Great."

We got to the nightclub about twenty minutes later, amid curious and anxious stares at our presence. Thankfully, though, since it was still early morning, most of the streets were deserted, and no one tried to shoot at me. The club itself looked closed, too, probably having just shut down an hour or two ago for the night. I knocked on the door, then turned to face Matthew again.

"I want you to wait outside in case shit hits the fan in there, for whatever reason," I said to him in a low voice. I quickly pulled my sidearm from its holster on my hip and handed it to him. "Here. Hide this in your waistband. Anything happens to me, you hoof it back to the Pelican right away and hightail it out. Got it?"

My brother-in-law looked nervous, but he'd been through a few firefights by now. He gathered up his courage and nodded. "Got it, Nat."

"Good. I should be back soon."

The door opened then and Giovanna Torri, Laraza's assistant, ushered me inside. Her presence was typical and didn't send up any red flags, but I found myself gawking around like a tourist nonetheless. I tried to tell myself it was for my own safety, but really I'd just never seen a place like this before. It was much bigger than what I'd imagined for a small Outer Colony city, and some low music and a few of the gyrating colored lights remained on, despite it now being closed.

Seated at a table in the back on his own, Mayor Javier Laraza chuckled as I came into view.

"Have you never been inside of a club before, Major?" he asked. He made a subtle gesture to Torri, and the lights and sound suddenly stopped.

I snorted as I approached his table. "I was married and commissioned at twenty and had my first kid at twenty-three. And there was a war going on. I didn't have time to go sightseeing much outside the O-Club." I carefully sat down across from him. "Mostly just dive bars close to base. Nothing like this."

"Your loss then, I'm afraid. Drink?"

I noticed the impressive collection of liquor bottles behind the bar and couldn't help myself, regardless of the hour and location; the stock available on the _Affair_ was pretty limited, and so too was the access while I was groundside. I nodded. "Sure, why not? Let's go with a scotch. I'll consider it my breakfast."

The mayor signaled to Torri again, then quirked an eyebrow at me. "You're not afraid I might poison you?"

"Nah. I don't think you'd dirty your hands yourself."

A corner of Laraza's lips curled upward at that as two small tumblers and a bottle of amber liquid arrived at the table. The mayor poured a few fingers for himself and a few for me, and we each took a sip before he spoke again.

Laraza gestured grandly at the place. "I see you appear to enjoy my establishment. You should come here with your husband one night, on the house…if I don't kill you first."

This time, instead of getting angry, I smirked as I downed another swallow of the alcohol. "Get in line. I'm sure the Storm want to beat you to it, and our new alien friends, too."

"Yes. You warned me of them in your message." He leaned forward in his seat. "You think I will let your Marines return to the mainland if you scare me with stories?"

"No stories, Mr. Laraza. I brought proof." I pulled out a small data chip from my breast pocket and set it on the table in front of him. "In there's all we got so far. Pictures, video, audio. Since I know you never went sniffing around on the island, I know you probably never even knew you had alien visitors – _other_ alien visitors, I mean. But these guys are different. They're sentient AIs. Robots. And they pack an even bigger punch than the ex-Covies."

Laraza frowned, looking at the chip in his hand and no doubt digesting my words. "If what you say is true, what is it you want me to do about it?"

I took another drink and said, "I want us to extend the truce again, with the possibility of getting your men to help us out on the island if need be. It's quickly becoming a very sticky situation out there, and we might need the help. Or a staging area the Storm and our new buddies can't hit as easily. Basically, I want to know we won't get stabbed by you if we turn our backs for a minute while we deal with this."

The mayor gave me a tight-lipped smile. "You remember that I told you when you left the island that if you failed to contain the situation there, we'd attack again."

"I remember. That's why I wanted to show you that if you do, you'd be left to deal with this new problem on your own. Khan is still at risk, Mr. Laraza. And like it or not, once again, we're you're best line of defense."

His eyes flashed with anger then. "Why ask for our help when you have a new UNSC ship coming in in a few days, eh? You think I don't know what you government types are doing?" He shoved the chip back to my side of the table. "I know when I am being played, Major Cooper, and I do not care for it."

It was my turn to press now. "First of all, it's _Lieutenant_ _Colonel_ now, Mr. Laraza. Secondly, this is not a ploy. The Prometheans are out there. Watch the damn clips. Even we don't know what the hell they're capable of yet or where they're from, but you can bet your ass you don't want them a hop, skip, and a jump from your house. Or your precious _club_." I snorted again, utterly astounded that it had taken us Marines landing on this planet to find out all the shit that island was crawling with. Apparently the locals had sat back and done absolutely nothing this entire time, and now we were the ones left to deal with the mess. "Try cleaning up your fucking yard once in a while, _Mayor_. You'd be amazed at all the junk that's back there, ready to strike."

Laraza suddenly jumped up to his feet, chair clattering to the floor behind him, fire blazing in his eyes. For a moment I thought he was going to reach out and try to punch me. But then he took several deep breaths and regained control.

"Get out, _Colonel_. _Now_."

"No truce then, huh?" I said as I stood from the table. "After everything we've done for you? After everything I had to swallow?" I finally met his gaze. "You tried to kill me, Laraza. I didn't forget. But I know when to put my own personal crap aside and do what's best for my people. You should do the same."

Just before I left, I turned back and added, "Because if the Prometheans come in in force, _none_ of us are safe."


	9. Chapter 8: Parting Gift

Author's Note: So my internet at home decided to crap out, and there's no viable way to fix it until I'm back in the States in a month. In the meantime, I'll try my best to get updates out through other means. There may or may not be some delays, depending how things go. But I'll keep writing. :)

* * *

**Chapter Eight: Parting Gift**

Matthew was still standing just outside the club when I emerged, right where I left him. He looked anxious loitering there in his borrowed UNSC Marine fatigues without insignia as he waited for me to show up. I could tell he was just as nervous as I was about being in potentially hostile territory on our own – despite the fact that just a couple short months ago, he'd considered this his home.

I saw him visibly relax when I came into view.

"Oh, good," he said, licking his lips as he pushed himself off the side of the building. "You're back. Now we can leave."

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "Did something happen?"

"No, I just…I don't want to get seen here by anybody I used to know. If they find out I've switched sides…"

"Right." I let out a sigh. "Well, looks like we're both persona non grata here, kiddo. Let's get moving before the rebs decide they won't let us go quietly. Just walk normally."

We started off back in the direction of the Pelican, still several minutes out, weapons concealed or slung to show whoever might be watching that we had no intention of using them unless pressed. I figured both of us were resisting the urge to move toward our ride out as fast as possible, though I knew it wouldn't do in the face of the locals if it looked like we'd done something wrong; Hayden had told me they had enough gripes about the UNSC as it was, and I didn't want to add to their list. I just kept my eyes scanning the streets ahead as usual, which I didn't think anyone would find odd for a Marine officer of my rank. It was an instinct anyone who'd been in combat before would share.

Eventually Matthew spoke again.

"How did it go in there, Nat?" he asked.

"Not bad, but not as well as I'd hoped," I replied. Then I snorted. "I haven't dropped dead yet, so that's something." I ran a hand through my hair, feeling suddenly odd and naked without my helmet, also left behind in the bird. "But it looks like I'm not going to get the truce I wanted, and I can't afford to have us fighting on multiple fronts right now. We've already got the elusive Storm and Prometheans to deal with, and that's more than enough."

My brother-in-law screwed up his face. "Prometheans?"

"What we fought outside the ruins."

"Oh." He frowned. "I'm guessing that's not good."

"Nope." I glanced over at him and noticed that after the couple battles he'd fought in since I found him near Outpost Columbia, he seemed a little older than his nineteen years now. "By the way, make sure you keep what we saw down there to yourself. Don't talk about it with your brother, either. Will doesn't know about the portals yet."

Matthew looked confused. "I thought you told him everything."

"I do when it deals with us personally, but this is separate from that – and bigger. I can't help you knowing because you were there, but I'm trying to keep a tight lid on this knowledge for now. It'll come out soon enough. Till then, I made a command decision that it's need-to-know. That extends to my husband, too." I sighed a second time. "I can't be a good leader and play favorites, Matt. He already gets access to more than he should just because of the position I'm in. But this he'll have to find out at the same time everyone else does, for his own good."

"You know he's not going to like that," Matthew muttered.

"I know. But I don't want him to worry even more about me and you being on the ground, or how all this is going to pan out. It's the same reason I'm keeping this info from the rest of the unit, too."

"You think morale's going to take a dive."

I gave him a half-smile. "You're a sharp kid, Matt. Yeah. That's exactly what I want to avoid. Wouldn't you be scared if you knew your enemies were able to reinforce indefinitely at a moment's notice, right under your nose?"

The younger Hawk sighed. "Can I ask you something, Natalie?"

"Shoot."

"Are _you_ scared?"

The pointblank question caught me off-guard, although I wasn't sure why. It was the natural progression for a kid as intuitive as Willis's baby brother. Another reason I thought he'd make a good addition to the Marines once we got back home and he could officially enlist, as he'd told me he hoped to do. For now, though, we were all stuck here on Khan.

"I haven't survived this long because I'm fearless, kiddo," I finally answered. "I'd be crazy if I said I could take the heat all the time and not feel a thing. I just know how to work with it. Fear can be good sometimes, keep you sharp and alert against your enemies – as long as you don't let it take over." I gripped the strap of my rifle harder as we walked. "My hope is that by the time word does get out, we'll be in a better position where we won't have to worry so much about the implications. That's why I wanted our relationship with the locals established today, I want our new ship to get in, and I want to know exactly what's going on on the island before we make our move. If you're well prepared, things don't seem as impossible anymore." I gave him a look then and flashed him a small grin. "Chin up, Matt. Finding the ruins was only the beginning, kid."

* * *

The last time I'd felt a bullet whizz past my ear was probably never, given the fact that in the field, I almost always wore my helmet for protection. Out here, though, slightly dressed down for the meeting with Mayor Javier Laraza as a show of good faith, I was without the electronic systems and security afforded to me by my equipment. So when I felt and heard the displacement of the air right by head, it damn well startled me.

But I also reacted fast.

"Watch it!" I yelled at Matthew as I suddenly barreled into his side and shoved him into a nearby alley. The kid stumbled a bit, caught off-guard by my quick action, and almost started to protest. But he soon realized what I was doing and quickly positioned himself beside me at the corner of the street, leaning against the building for cover and straining to see the shooter like I was. The shot had come from somewhere behind us…and I was pretty sure I knew who it might be.

"Where are they?" the younger Hawk asked, looking just over my shoulder. "I don't see anybody."

I was already aiming down my rifle's sights, DMR in hand. "They're there. Keep your eyes open."

I went into a crouch then so Matthew could have a better vantage point as he brought his pistol up while he stood, and I could make myself a smaller target as I inched over closer to the exposed street. Another shot rang out and a bullet bit into the side of the brick and mortar structure, puffs of rock bursting into the air close to my face. I shut my eyes tight and glanced away, then pulled on my sunglasses to compensate.

It was still fairly early in the morning, so my view with the glasses was dark, but it did the job of keeping my eyes clear of debris. Besides, the sun was just a few minutes from breaking over the horizon now anyway. _Another beautiful day in fucking paradise,_ I thought to myself.

Standing above me, I could almost sense my brother-in-law's apprehension, so I said, "Matt, don't worry about taking a shot back. I packed both guns with non-lethals on the ride out from Qamar. You won't kill anyone."

I took my own advice then and fired off a quick burst in the direction of the shots, if nothing else than to make the shooter jumpy and keep the bastard on his toes. I knew it wasn't a skilled sniper as the one who'd drilled me twice through the back about a month ago, because if that were the case we'd both already be dead. Regardless, I'd been shot by Jackals that time, not human rebels – although they had been working together. I kept my aim steady and waited for the shooter to mess up and show himself.

Luck finally came our way when I saw something move in the distance, out from behind a building same as we were. It seemed Matthew saw him at the same time, because he fired off four rounds from my sidearm and sent the man scurrying back behind cover. I tapped on my brother-in-law's leg to get his attention.

"Now's our chance, Matt," I said to him, gesturing to the other side of the street. "Let's move and see if we can't nail this guy."

I got up on my haunches and took a second to check the street again, then, staying crouched, bolted for the stone column on the opposite side. I was about a third of the way there when I felt something tear harshly into my left arm. I winced and let out a rough growl, momentarily slowing, but kept running till I was safely behind cover again.

Matthew was hot on my heels, his deep brown eyes suddenly wide as he came to a halt and dropped beside me.

"Jesus, Nat. You're bleeding."

I gritted my teeth against the pain and waved my good hand at him dismissively. "We need to…get this shooter out of the picture first. Don't worry about it."

"Okay."

Willis's little brother got up again from our new cover and tried to track the shooter. It pissed me off to no end that it took only one to get us into this position, but without the aid of electronics, it was a mess trying to search for him in the still-dark early morning streets from far away. I clamped my hand for a moment over my gushing wound, where the bullet had grazed me, then took a deep breath and let go. It was time to finish this.

Bringing my DMR to bear once more, I zoomed in with the scope and pressed my face close to the weapon. I checked up and down the streets ahead of us, knowing for sure that our target had moved by now, and then I spotted him again. Rattling off a rapid burst, I followed it up quickly with three more for good measure, hoping my rounds found purchase.

I was rewarded with the sound of a pained shout and watched through the scope as the target finally fell to the ground. I didn't even feel bad this time about firing at a fellow human being; he'd tried to kill me first, and I wasn't the one packing lethal heat. I knew the man was safely down and unable to hurt us, but not dead.

To that end, I turned to Matthew fast, tugging on his shoulder with my good hand. "Matt, we need to get back to that Pelican, _now_. That might not've been the only one they sent after us."

Much to my surprise, instead of moving right away, Matthew just stood there for a minute longer, staring off in the direction of the incapacitated and moaning figure several tens of meters in front of us.

"Natalie…that shooter wasn't a guy. Did you hear her scream?"

Truth be told, I hadn't noticed in the moment. But as I looked out at the downed figure in the distance again, I remembered that she'd sounded different.

"So it wasn't Laraza," I murmured.

That left me perplexed for a moment, but not long enough to stick around. I pulled on my brother-in-law's uniform collar to get him going, and we jogged the rest of the way to the Pelican, weapons in hand all the way this time till we arrived at the spot.

Using my good arm, I banged hard on the back hatch and yelled at Captain Heat in lieu of a radio hail. "Heat, open up! It's us! We need to bug out!"

"Got it, Colonel!" came the reply from the cockpit.

It was as we were loading up into the troop bay with the Pelican already lifting off that the pain suddenly hit me even harder. I winced again in my seat and gripped my bleeding bicep with my right hand, trying to stem the blood flow. I wanted to pull off my uniform jacket to check out the damage, but knew I probably shouldn't till we were on the island again and I could go see Doc. In the meantime, I started to sweat from the effort of keeping the pain to myself, and Matthew glanced over at me with an increasingly worried look.

"Natalie? Are you sure you're okay?" he asked me.

"Yeah, kid," I said through gritted teeth. "I'll be…fine. I've had…much worse than this before."

To keep my mind occupied and off the pain during the flight, I thought again of the woman I'd shot in the street just now. I knew without a doubt she'd been a rebel, otherwise she would've had no reason to rattle off a series of rounds at a UNSC Marine and her escort.

I also knew that even if it hadn't been Mayor Laraza personally who'd been after me, it was a damn good bet that he'd been the one to send the rebel on her errand.


	10. Chapter 9: Ominous Signs and Hard Times

**Chapter Nine: Ominous Signs and Hard Times**

"I knew I'd see you in here again before long, Colonel."

Once we made it back to the island, Matthew and Heat were quick to escort me to the makeshift medtent set up within the 8th Engineer Battalion's lines. I'd protested that I didn't need the help, that I'd injured my arm and not one of my legs and could still walk, but that hadn't helped my case much. Heat insisted he had to see me to a medic or face the wrath of Willis if he brought back his wife harmed. Matthew was just straight-up worried about me. So they waited outside the tent now while Corpsman Michael Reynolds tended to my wound.

I snorted at his words. "Yeah. God forbid I leave the house without a bandage, right?" I winced as something the medic dabbed onto my arm sent pain spiraling upward to my shoulder. "Maybe…Porter's right to keep such a close eye on me all the time."

Doc Reynolds briefly grinned as he finished cleaning up the wound, his blue eyes bright. "That he is, ma'am. He knows you as well as I do by now. We've both been under your command for a long time."

He bandaged up the injury then, threw away the sterile cloths he'd used to clean my arm with, now bloody, then tossed in his gloves as well. Finally, he released a sigh as he ran a hand through his cropped black hair.

"Well, that's it from me, Colonel. You can put your uniform jacket and armor back on now. If you need something for the pain later, let me know. If not, try to be back tomorrow morning and I'll switch out the bandages for you. It should heal up just fine."

"Okay," I said. I raised an eyebrow at him. "You're sure nothing you gave me just now is…going to interfere with what I'm already taking?"

"No, ma'am. You're all clear this time. Promise."

"All right. Thanks, Doc."

"Anytime, ma'am." He gave me a pointed look. "You're lucky that bullet just grazed you, though. Try to be more careful next time."

"I know," I answered glumly. "I'm sure my husband isn't going to be too happy with me."

Reynolds made a coughing sound as he took a quick glance outside the tent then. "Uh-oh. Don't look now."

"He's here?" I asked, surprised.

"Yup." The medic flashed me another grin. "Good luck, Colonel."

Then Reynolds was gone and Willis appeared inside the tent, all concern.

"Natalie, what happened? Are you okay?"

I didn't put my jacket back on over my T-shirt just yet, but sat there holding onto my bandaged wound instead. It still hurt. "Well, like I told your brother, Will. I've had worse. Bullet just grazed me, nothing too bad." I winced a second time. "Hurts like a son of a bitch, though."

Willis frowned as he stood in front of the cot I was sitting on, dressed in his flightsuit and gripping his helmet in one hand. His eyes drifted over to my jacket, draped over the other half of the cot where I wasn't seated, and he saw the hole the bullet had ripped into the left sleeve. Then he turned back to me.

"I told you to be careful when you went over there, honey."

"I know," I said. "I'm sorry. I made a dumb mistake."

My husband let out a sigh then and crouched down before me to press his forehead against mine. "I hate seeing you like this, Coop."

I let my good arm move up to touch the side of his short hair. "It's bound to happen at times, Will. You know it comes with the job."

"Yeah, but it happens _a lot_ with you. Remember what I said when we went to go look for my brother at the outpost? About you trying to take it easy?"

"Yeah."

He pulled back a bit to look into my eyes as he slid a hand across my cheek. "Then please do, Cooper."

Now that we were alone, he pressed his lips gently against mine, and I kissed him back without a second thought. Even the harsh pain of my wound seemed to dull for a moment. But all too soon, we were thrust back into reality – in a very big way.

An explosion suddenly rocked the ground hard outside the tent, sending Willis tumbling into me on the cot. I let out a harsh hiss through my teeth as my hurt arm took the brunt of it and instinctively grabbed hold of the bandaged wound. Willis got up as soon as the ground stopped shaking and quickly gave me an apologetic look.

"Christ, Natalie, I'm sorry. Is it bad?"

"A little," I said through clenched teeth. "But I'm…more concerned about what the hell that was."

"I'll go take a look."

"No. Not by yourself. Wait for me."

Willis turned back and waggled his eyebrows at me. "Is that an order?"

I shoved playfully at his chest, unable to help the slight smile that formed on my face despite the situation – and the pain. "I can make it one if you choose to ignore it. Help me up."

My husband extended his hand at me and I took it. He pulled me up to my feet, then handed me my jacket to put on.

"Better hurry, Colonel," he said.

I snorted. "Yeah. Thanks, honey."

I finished putting on my jacket over my T-shirt fast, then quickly strapped my torso armor back on. Beside me, I saw Willis do the same over his flightsuit. It seemed he'd chosen to stay groundside for this engagement now that he was already here.

"No time to fly back up," he explained to me as he shoved on his helmet. "Besides, I'd like to see our new enemy from up close. And make sure you're safe."

I nodded as I put on my own helmet. "Fair enough. Let's move then, Major."

We stepped out of the tent with weapons raised, unsure of what we'd find. Willis was gripping his SMG tight in his hands, while I had both my DMR and my pistol back since Matthew had reclaimed his MA5D on the return trip. Still, walking out into the chaos – even fully armed – was jarring.

Case in point was the enemy grenade that went sailing over our heads.

My husband and I both hit the deck in an instant and covered our heads, fully expecting another detonation to engulf us and shower our position with shards of hot metal. But it turned out the Prometheans' device didn't do that. Instead, I watched as a ring of yellow-orange light encircled the explosive as it was suspended in the air, and then the light suddenly burst inward.

When we rose carefully to our feet, I was faintly surprised to find we were both still intact. I was puzzled for a moment until it hit me. I glanced over at Willis.

"EMP charge?" he asked me, clearly having the same idea.

I shrugged. "Makes sense for robots, right?"

"Yep. Looks like my helmet's systems are rebooting."

"Mine, too."

"There you go, then, Coop."

"Will! Natalie! Over here!"

The shout came from our right, and we both turned at the same time. Several meters ahead of us on our flank were Matthew, Heat, and Staff Sergeant Porter and his squad, ready to cover me. I grinned momentarily at our good fortune and sprinted over to their position.

As we moved, I heard a male voice flood the COM channel. It was a hail to Willis from one of his pilots.

"Major Hawk, this is Earwig!" the voice said, no doubt using his callsign. "We just saw those new robot things show up! Orders, sir?"

Willis keyed his COM back fast. "Form up tight and stay close overhead!" my husband answered as we ran. "I'm stuck on the ground for now along with Captain Heat, and it looks like the Prometheans've managed to penetrate our lines again. I don't see an opening for you to provide cover fire where you won't also hit us, so just standby and watch our six for now, Lieutenant."

"Yes, sir!"

By the time we reached the others, my bandaged left arm was throbbing from holding up the weight of my DMR. I tried my best to block it out and focused instead on the task at hand – finding out what the hell was going on, and how the Prometheans had managed to bypass our perimeter again without warning.

"Okay," I said over the sound of weapons' fire and the battle going on all around us. "Who can tell me what the fuck just happened? Where did these bastards come from?"

Matthew Hawk was the first to reply. "No clue, Nat! One second we were standing there waiting for you to come out, next we heard an explosion and they were on us!"

"Shit," I muttered under my breath. I motioned for my aide to cover me then as I got on the horn to Major Shawn Harris, the 8th Engineers' new battalion commander in my stead. "Shawn, this is Lieutenant Colonel Cooper. Want to fill me in on the situation?"

There was a brief delay before I heard his answer over the radio. "Yes, ma'am! I just spoke with the Marines you had posted outside the ruins, Colonel. They said there wasn't a hint of activity and then, all of a sudden, a bunch of those AI motherfuckers jumped out. They leapt over the men posted there and sort of…_teleported_ behind our lines, ma'am."

"Jesus," I breathed. "All right, got it, Harris."

"Orders, ma'am?"

"Yeah," I said, gripping my DMR tighter. "Let's drive these bastards out."

I cut the connection then and swore under my breath a second time. Willis glanced over at me with raised eyebrows.

"What?"

"They came from out of the ruins," I replied.

"Huh? How – ?"

But I didn't have time to respond right now. I got moving then with Staff Sergeant Porter hot on my heels and jumped into the fray, making sure I turned some robots into sparking scrap metal in the fight, too.

"Let's go, Marines!" I yelled to the scattered men around me. "Pick up the fire! We need to clear the perimeter, _now_! Push them back!"

The sounds of battle only grew louder then as machine guns barked to life along the lines, and the combined noise of rifles, shotguns, and SMGs suddenly increased. A few frag grenades went sailing toward the center as well, where the highest concentration of Prometheans were, and they managed to blow up two dogs, a Knight, and three drones in the big blast. Meanwhile, my teeth rattled inside my helmet at the close explosion as debris bounced off my armor, but thankfully nothing serious hit me or my companions. As soon as the smoke cleared, I went down on one knee where I stood and fired off a quick burst from my DMR.

Remembering what I'd learned from our previous two encounters with these guys – though brief – I systematically targeted the drones first while Staff Sergeant Porter took out the Crawlers gunning for us with his SAW. In the meantime, the others concentrated their fire on the Knights at my command. It was a good tactic that served us well – especially when Willis and Matt both crouched down beside me and added their bullets to the cause, too.

My clip was spent after I shot down a fifth drone out of the sky, its center suddenly exploding into a light rain of sparks and metal above its Knight. I noticed then that the occasional shield of light that popped up around the tall AI-bot fizzled out then, while the thing's secondary drone raced to cover it again. I turned to Willis as I reloaded.

"Will, the drone!" I shouted.

"On it!" my husband replied.

He stood up for a moment amid the hail of gunfire and light rounds and brought his SMG up, then fired off a long burst that brought the second Watcher crashing down from above beside its twin. At last exposed, the Knight let out another spray of fire itself, then teleported out.

"_Fuck_!" I heard Porter shout nearby. "I had him!"

"It's okay, Josh," I said to him over the COM. "It'll show up again. Marines, keep your eyes peeled!"

Acknowledgment lights winked green across my HUD…

…And then the Knight suddenly reappeared right in front of us, hollow eyes blazing with light, and something that looked an awful lot like a purple light blade was in its hands.

The Knight was suddenly standing just before Willis.

"_No_!" I screamed, and without even thinking about it, I ditched my gun and lunged.

I hadn't seen Matthew do the same beside me but he did, and together we went crashing into the robot. A few bullets bounced off its chestplate, luckily missing both my brother-in-law and I, and we brought the Promethean down. The thing struggled against our surprise attack and the lead rounds, its blade still out, and it swept out its arm once, hoping to catch us and slice us in half. It didn't.

Dubious as to whether or not my combat knife would work against this guy, I brought my pistol out instead, lightning quick, and shot round after round pointblank into its son-of-a-bitch face until sparks flew.

One more long burst of fire did it.

I didn't notice that Staff Sergeant Porter had come up beside the thing's head until it was dead. The Knight hadn't even finished dropping to the ground when it disintegrated into a thousand light fragments, as they'd done before, and disappeared. When we could see again, only its weapon remained.

I sat there on the ground in a kind of daze, breathing hard along with Matthew and Porter. I didn't even notice the sharp ache of my wound until Willis ran up in front of us.

"Holy shit," he said, his hazel eyes wide with astonishment and worry. "Jesus, Cooper. Matt, you okay?"

"Yeah, big bro," Matthew replied as he started to get up, albeit slowly. "I'm…good to go."

"Natalie?"

I winced for the third time since landing back on the island. "Yeah, Will. I'm not…dead quite yet."

Seeing that we were more or less fine, my husband's face went from panicked alarm to deep anger in a second. "_Never_ do that again. Either of you. Understand?" His expression abruptly softened and he looked down at his boots. "I couldn't handle it if something happened to my family because of me."

"Same…here," I said from the dirt. My eyes suddenly stung, and I wiped at them with my sleeve. "That Knight…he was gunning for you, Willis. I thought he was going to stab you. It freaked me out."

Willis knelt down in front of me and cupped a hand around the back of my helmet. He was smiling faintly now, but I could still see the hurt in his eyes.

"Even so, you're crazy, Cooper. But I love you."

"I love you, too," I answered.

Again he held out his hand for me, and I grabbed onto it. Once I was back on my feet, I put my sidearm away and searched for my discarded rifle, holding onto my bandaged arm as I did so to will the pain away. It didn't work, but I found my DMR among the debris and picked it up.

It was only when I brought my weapon to bear again that I realized that the fight was suddenly over. I glanced at Willis.

"Where…?"

"Don't know. The rest of them were either killed or bugged out," he said. Then he gave me a questioning look of his own. "Want to tell me what you meant earlier?"

I screwed up my face, drawing a blank. All the adrenaline of the past several minutes had taken it out of me. "About what?"

"About them being from the ruins." Now that the danger had passed, my husband let out a sigh as he cradled his submachine in his hands, barrel pointed low. "Something's down there, isn't it, Coop?"

I sighed too as I remembered. The gig was up. "Yeah. We found a large chamber down there, a roomful of portals." I looked out into the distance, at the after-effects of the fight, unable to meet his gaze. "And we have no idea how many there might be, which are active, or where they might go. Or what we can do to button them back up."


	11. Chapter 10: Specs

**Chapter Ten: Specs**

Willis had his jaw set as we walked quietly toward the rendezvous coordinates I'd just set up. I didn't need our near-eleven years of marriage to tell he was upset. Still, I said nothing myself, and waited for him to speak first while we strode through the 8th Engineers' reestablished lines.

Finally, when we'd almost reached the spot, he turned to me and came to a halt. His eyes were calm but searching as he looked at me. Maybe he was giving me the benefit of the doubt since I'd just saved his life.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner, Coop?"

"I couldn't, Will."

"Why not?" he pressed.

I released a sigh, trying hard not to sound brusque but failing. "Because it doesn't concern you."

"Doesn't concern me?" he repeated incredulously. "My brother and _my wife_ are on the ground waiting to get shot like fish in a barrel, and that 'doesn't concern me'?"

"I meant your command, Willis. It wasn't something you and your pilots needed to know about to do your jobs. Not yet. And we're hardly fish in a barrel. I've got two Marine battalions dirtside and a third in reserve coming in on the new ship. Plus two Scorpion tanks, three Warthogs still functional, and both your squadrons in the air to provide overhead support. We're not exactly in bad shape ourselves here."

My husband frowned. "Maybe, but those portals – "

"I know, and I'm working on it, like I said. That's also what this briefing's about. I've got some ideas and plans already in the works. This is just to get some input and make sure everyone's on the same page about this."

It was Willis's turn to sigh now. "How many others know?"

"A handful. Not a lot. Majors Harris and Warfield, the spook, Captain Rhodes on the _Affair_, and the small team of Marines that went down into the ruins with me. Basically just my aide and – "

"And my brother," Willis replied, his voice going hard again. "My little brother knows and I'm guessing you probably told him not to tell me."

I glanced down at the dirt, put my hands on my hips, then met his gaze again. "I wish you'd understand that this isn't about you, Willis. It has nothing to do with me and you personally and everything to do with where we're at professionally. I can't help that Matthew was with me when we went in. But I can assure you that outside of that this stuff is known only at the very top. And my senior staff had to know because otherwise they can't effectively lead the ground units. Captain Rhodes told me things even the spook wasn't privy to when I got promoted, Will. It comes with the job. I can't always tell you every single thing I know just because you're my husband. Because everything's up to me now, and I just – "

Surprising me, I felt my husband's arms suddenly surround me in a tight hug. Slowly, I hugged him back, the action made awkward thanks to our bulky gear, but no less welcome. I grabbed onto the back of his armor hard and rested my chin on his shoulder for a moment, giving in completely to the embrace. I was so relieved he understood that I felt like a literal weight had lifted off my shoulders.

"It's okay, Cooper," he finally said, his arms still wrapped around my middle. He blew out a breath. "I'm sorry about getting mad at you. I know it's not your fault. I know you didn't ask for all this responsibility. And I know you still miss your best friend, and you're only doing what you think is fair. I...can respect that."

"Will – "

He pulled back and took my face in both his hands now that I was without a helmet, gently, and gave me a small smile. "I made the mistake of being selfish before and you ended up close to death in Columbia's medical wing. I won't make it again. I trust you, Natalie. Whatever you decide, you know I've got your back."

I couldn't help the answering grin that spread across my face at his words. There was only one thing I could think of to say in reply. "You're amazing, honey."

"Thanks. I try," Willis said, his own grin widening. Then he quirked an eyebrow at me. "Now I think we've got a briefing to attend, Colonel."

* * *

The meeting was a solemn affair, held deep within the 904th Infantry Battalion's lines well away from where we'd encountered the Storm earlier in the day, as well as the ruins guarded by the 8th Engineers. Both of the 904th's Warthogs surrounded us, while Willis's Victor Squadron circled overhead - though not conspicuously so. Even though we were technically out in the open, heading up to the ship right now was out of the question, and this was as safe a place as we could make it.

I slung my rifle behind me then and folded my arms across my chest as each of the four officers present nodded to me in turn - Major Harris, Major Warfield, Willis, and the spook.

"All right," I said, starting things off. I nodded to my husband. "I brought our air commander in on this now, too. Obviously the ruins pose a problem, and our lines still aren't safe despite the heavily armed perimeters and patrols. And somehow we've got to make all this secure by the time our new ship arrives in four days." I looked over at Warfield. "Major, any updates from Captain Sogaard's company? Are they finished with the mapping yet?"

"Yes, ma'am," he answered gruffly, as usual. "Captain Sogaard and her Marines got back just before the Prometheans attacked the Eighth's lines."

"And?" I prompted.

"The tunnel they found on the beach led straight to the main chamber of the ruins."

I nodded at the news. "That's what we figured. So we know how the Remnant troops are keeping out of sight and launching surprise attacks against our lines." I looked at the map of the island on my datapad, focusing on the thin orange line that denoted where Sogaard's Marines had found a link to the ruins underground. "If there's one path, though, there's gotta be more."

"That poses a problem for our mission, ma'am," Major Harris said then. "Without knowing how many of these underground passages there might be, we can't effectively secure the ruins for the scientists when they arrive in the new ship."

"And we can't know how many passages there are until they come down to scope it out for us," I said, thoughtful. "That's a hell of a catch-22."

Willis spoke up beside me. "There's also the Prometheans to consider, ma'am. They've been jumping our lines too from what I just saw."

I pinched the bridge of my nose and again wished that Hayden was here to add his more experienced voice. But like Lloyd had said earlier, he wasn't, and so it was up to me to find a solution to our bevy of issues. I let out a sigh as I lowered my hand from my face.

"Well, there's no other way around this. Four days isn't enough to search the whole damn island for more shortcuts. We're just going to have to double our watch and make sure the men realize that no perimeter is impenetrable. I think we've been taught that lesson a couple times now." I looked at Warfield and Harris in turn. "Majors, I want you to upload a copy of this map to each of your company commanders. Make sure they know exactly where this place is, and that they're aware that the Storm or Prometheans can emerge from it at any time. Obviously, you'll want to avoid placing your perimeter in its direct proximity."

"Yes, ma'am," Harris replied.

"Understood, Colonel," Warfield said.

I glanced over at the ONI operative next. "Lloyd, I want you to take one of the engineer companies and start surveying all you can down on the beach. Mark every cave and outcrop around that you can get to within the next few days, and we'll start from there. Assume that each location is hostile, but don't try to go inside for now. I just want to get a better idea of how many there might be, and where they're positioned."

"Got it, Colonel," the spook responded. He scratched the back of his neck. "What about the portals though, ma'am? How do you want the ruins secured for the scientists?"

"We'll do what we can to make it as safe as possible for them. Post a tight guard both in the chamber and on the outside. I may have to bring this to Captain Rhodes aboard the _Affair_ for approval." I shifted my stance. "But as long as there's no active combat going on, I'd say we bring them in regardless. We can't solve this on our own without their help, and they knew what they were getting themselves into when they signed up."

"We'll just have to make sure the Marines are prepared for any contingency, then," Warfield murmured.

Harris overheard and snorted good-naturedly at the other major. "We're Marines, Cole. Always supposed to be ready for that."

Major Warfield cracked a rare smile. "Oorah, brother."

"Okay. I know we're far from an ideal situation at the moment, but I hope that getting some things in motion before our reinforcements arrive will give us an edge," I said. "Beyond that, we just have to hold the lines for a few more days till we get some definitive answers. And by then, we'll also have a fresh battalion at our disposal as well. I can see about rotating one of the units out for a break if it looks like things stay relatively quiet. If things are hot, however, we'll just go ahead and bring in the extra battalion right away." I looked at the other officers around me. "Questions so far?"

No one said anything.

"Good. Shawn, your battalion is closest to the ruins, so make sure you keep round-the-clock surveillance on that area. Until we map this place out, remember that our enemies have access to come and go as they please. We'll try to remedy that with some small recon drones of our own that Major Hawk here can requisition from the _Affair_. At least if they go dark, you'll know instantly that trouble's coming."

Harris nodded. "That'll work, ma'am."

"Will, I need your squadrons to enlarge the radius of their flights," I said to my husband. "I know it's a lot of ground to cover, but if you guys can spot enemy forces coming out of the woodwork where we can't and give us a head's up, that would help a lot. In this case, I'll need your pilots to start observing the shores as well as the ridge and the ruins."

"Consider it done, Colonel."

"Hopefully that should tide us over until the scientists can land and get us more intel," I said. "In the meantime, I'll keep working on the locals. This morning's contact was clearly a bust, but I believe as soon as the mayor comes to understand the gravity of the situation, I can get him on board." Ignoring the pain of my wounded arm, which I had no doubt he'd indirectly inflicted, I added, "Besides having the rebs pacified, once our reinforcements arrive, I'd like to use the mainland as a staging area where we can hold extra troops and supplies in reserve, so we don't have to sacrifice part of our air cover for too long going back and forth to the _Affair_. If we can do so without having to constantly watch our six, all the better."

I glanced up again and looked at the pensive faces around me. Once again, Warfield was the only one who seemed more stern than contemplative. Something was still amiss with the newest major, and I decided then that I'd try to catch him after the briefing and finally figure out what was going on.

"If anyone has any other ideas or suggestions to add, now's the time," I prompted.

Again the officers around me remained silent. I waited about a minute before I said, "All right, then. That's all I've got for you. Obviously if things change, we'll meet here again to devise a new solution. For now, though, you've got your orders. Dismissed."

I wanted to speak to Major Warfield in private now, but I knew I had to talk to Lieutenant Lloyd first before he left. I motioned for the spook to stay put and pulled him aside.

"Cal, one more thing for you," I said to him. I handed him a small data chip. "This is my helmet cam feed from the skirmish we just fought on the other side of the ridge. I know the admiral will want a complete report from me later, but I'm giving this to you now to send up to Captain Rhodes. It's got my notes on some tactics I noticed the Prometheans using in the fight, and a guess on the type of grenades they deploy. Might be helpful."

The Navy lieutenant nodded. "Sure thing, Colonel. I'll get this sent right away."

"Thanks."

When I turned to leave, I found Willis waiting for me. The others had already moved off.

"Sounds like you've got your work cut out for you, Cooper."

I gave him a look. "If only you knew, Will." I ran a hand across my face, already feeling exhausted from the day's events - not to mention hurt and sore. "What I wouldn't give to be back home right now."

"I know, honey. Me, too. But for now, this is our lot. Gotta make the most of it." He looked around, knowing the other officers were still nearby, and grabbed hold of my hand and squeezed in lieu of a kiss. "I'm going to go meet up with Heat now and head back up. Hang in there, Natalie."

"Yeah, thanks."

And just like that, Willis was gone.

When I finally left myself and went to look for Major Warfield, he was nowhere to be found.


	12. Chapter 11: Getting Up to Speed

**Chapter Eleven: Getting Up to Speed**

**Undetermined Shipboard Time, February 15, 2558. Onboard UNSC Transport Ship **_**Suave Affair**_**, In Orbit Above Planet Khan. "The Newest Compatriots," Outer Colonies. Prologue to the Dawn of the Prometheans**

Five days later Willis and I found ourselves aboard the _Suave Affair_ waiting for the new UNSC ship, the _Excalibur_, to come in. It was a day late, much to our chagrin, so we hadn't been able to spend Valentine's Day on the ship together. My husband had promised me that if we got the chance, though, he'd make it up to me today. It was the fourteenth one we'd spent together, so some sort of mark of the occasion was in order.

As for more serious matters, things groundside had thankfully been quieter as of late. When Willis and I had left the island a couple of hours ago, we'd gone a solid three days with no attacks. I hoped that would hold up when we finally escorted the scientists down, too.

Presently, we were both seated in the mess hall grabbing a quick bite to eat. It was a nice change of pace from the energy bars and, when we were lucky and had enough time, MREs that we lived off of dirtside on the surface of Khan. Officially I was here to be the welcome wagon for the new ship, and to bring the major in charge of the extra Marine contingent up to speed on groundside operations. Willis, as always, had been my ride up.

He picked at his second tray of food now, either preoccupied or stuffed. I was still working on my first.

"What's up?" I asked him around a mouthful of chicken, rice, and peas. It wasn't anything fancy, but it tasted a hell of a lot better than cardboard-flavored bars. "You look like something you just ate was bad."

My husband ran a hand over his week-old beard. "No. It's not the food."

"Then what?"

"I checked my personal messages when we got onboard, Cooper. My parents sent me one. It's about the kids."

A sharp twinge of dread went through me then. I opened my mouth to speak but found I couldn't, suddenly paralyzed with worry. Willis must've seen the look on my face and was quick to reassure me.

"Don't worry, Natalie. They're fine. It's just…that message hit me harder than I thought. I really miss them."

I slid a hand across the table discreetly, and he took it with his own. "I do, too, Will."

"My mom said…she said Liam's taking our absence the hardest. Apparently he was okay for a while in the beginning, but now he cries some nights before he goes to sleep. Mostly for you."

It was soul-crushing to hear that. I dropped my fork after a minute, all interest in my meal lost, and pushed my tray away to put my head in my hands.

"Jesus, Will. Our poor kid."

"I know. I feel bad, too."

I felt like shit myself now, wishing I could be back on Mars to comfort my youngest son and tell him it was all okay, that we'd be home soon. Though Liam was older than Olivia by three minutes, he'd always been the baby of the family since he was generally a quiet, shy little guy, and a bit smaller physically than his twin sister. I'd worried about leaving all my kids behind when we'd left, but I'd worried about Liam the most. Hearing that my fears were well-founded hurt.

"What about Liv and Gabe?" I asked.

"They're doing better. Liv misses us but she's a trooper, just like her mom," he said with a small smile, "and Gabriel's turning out to be the protective type. My parents say he's taking good care of the twins, especially Liam when he gets upset." He squeezed my hand. "We made a good set of kids, Coop."

I smiled a little. "Yeah. We did."

Slowly the hurt was replaced by relief. I felt proud of my firstborn for taking charge in our absence and watching over his younger siblings, insofar as he could at his age. Sometimes, because of what he'd been through as an infant and a toddler during the War, he seemed more mature than his seven years. Still, all the talk made me miss the three of them even more.

"So what else is on tap?" I questioned, hoping to change the subject so I didn't start tearing up in public. I checked my watch. "The ship's not due for another twenty minutes, so we've got some time."

Willis surprised me by releasing a sigh. He lowered his voice and said, "I went down to the medbay aboard ship when we landed while you went to go talk to Captain Rhodes, to ask about the meds you take for the nightmares. The _Affair_'s all out, Cooper. The doc over there said we should try the _Excalibur_ when it gets in."

"Shit." This wasn't good. Without my pills against the nightmares, they'd slowly start coming back. Eventually, I'd become more of a liability than a leader without their calming effect – I either wouldn't sleep at all, or it'd be restless in the extreme.

Willis saw my expression and said, "It'll be okay, honey. I'm sure the _Excalibur_'s got more on board. Don't sweat it."

"Will…you remember what I was like without them. During the war – and when it was over, before I got pregnant with the twins…I was a fucking mess."

"I know. But it won't happen again, Coop. You said yourself the new ship's coming in with lots of supplies. You'll be fine."

It was my turn to let out a sigh this time. Because right now, the immense weight of the responsibility on my shoulders seemed heavier than ever to bear.

* * *

Though Lieutenant Caleb Lloyd had detached himself from our company once we'd landed on the _Affair_, he met back up with me now as we strode down the hall to meet with the top ground officer aboard the _Excalibur_. I assumed Willis had either gone to our quarters or was off to attend to other matters while he waited for the meet and greet to be over. As for me, I tried my best not to preoccupy myself with thoughts of being without the meds I needed, and concentrated instead on the task at hand. Sort of.

"Still playing solitaire, Lieutenant?" I asked the spook as we walked.

The Naval officer just grinned. "Yes, ma'am. Why?"

"Last time I found you in the rec room on our trip up, you were playing with a deck of real cards. It's been a long time since I've seen anybody do that."

"Holdover from ONI training, Colonel," Lloyd replied.

I raised an eyebrow. "How so? Or are you even allowed to tell me?"

"No, I can tell you that much. It's nothing top secret." We rounded a corner then, and he continued, "Basically we have a period of about two weeks during training where we go completely dark. No helmet electronics, no datapad, nothing. It's to teach us how to survive in case our gear goes out, or in case the mission requires that we leave no electronic signature. I know that each branch of the UNSC military does something similar with their own recruits, too."

I nodded. "I remember us doing something like that during my first year at the Naval Academy. Our instructors told us it's even more intensive for us officers than the enlisted personnel because we rely so much more on our tech to keep things organized."

"That's right, ma'am. So you can only imagine how much more intense it was for _me_ as a spook."

I smirked at him. "Yep. So intense you picked up card-playing?"

Lieutenant Lloyd laughed. "To be fair, that was mostly because we got bored at times without our devices."

"I bet. Intel's all about the gadgets from what I hear."

"There's a little more to it than that, Colonel, but I'm not about to reveal trade secrets."

We reached the starboard hangar bay then and waited as the Pelican disembarked a few military personnel and some gear. I couldn't tell from this distance which one was the major we were supposed to introduce ourselves to. The answer came soon enough, though, as a woman with short red hair in a pixie cut and a fresh battledress uniform strode towards us. She came to attention and saluted when she saw me.

"Lieutenant Colonel Cooper, ma'am. Major Danielle Brewer reporting as ordered."

I saluted back. "At ease, Major. So you're our new battalion commander?"

"Yes, ma'am. Straight from the Inner Colonies, Colonel."

"So I gathered. What can you tell us about your ship's complement, Danielle?"

Major Brewer seemed uncomfortable for a moment. "It's Dani, ma'am. I stick to my full name only on official papers and introductions."

"Dani, then."

Brewer nodded. "Our transport ship's not much, ma'am. Definitely not as large as the _Affair_. Small structure, relatively small complement, but she's laden with supplies." The major suddenly smirked. "She's even got a couple of those new Mantis machines on board, Colonel. I can't wait to use those big beasts dirtside."

I grinned, too. "Sounds great so far."

"Other than that, though, it's just me, my Marine battalion, the ship's crew – "

"What about the civilian team, Major?" I asked, cutting her off. I didn't want to get lost in the details, just an overview.

"Eight of the UNSC's best minds, ma'am. Besides those already occupied with other tasks, of course." She looked at Lieutenant Lloyd then, and I noticed her gaze lingered. With his short, dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes, the young ONI operative was a very attractive man. "We have another spook onboard, too."

That momentarily threw me for a loop; either Captain Rhodes hadn't known that beforehand, or he'd decided not to mention it to me.

"Really?"

"Yes, ma'am," Major Brewer responded. "Should be coming by soon." She folded her arms across her chest then. "I was told we'd get a preview of how things are going down on Khan."

"That's correct, Major. You'll get the full brief I gave my other battalion commanders on your datapad. I just sent it before you got here. Hopefully some intel's already made its way toward you while you guys were en route."

"Affirmative, ma'am. We know the locals have been testy and that the Storm are here. We also know you found Prometheans on the surface recently by some old ruins, and what they are. That's about it, though."

I smiled faintly. "Unfortunately that's pretty much all we know about the Prometheans, too. But Lieutenant Lloyd here's trying to expand our knowledge base ahead of the civvies coming down to scope things out for us over there."

Brewer nodded again. "Anything else I should know, Colonel?"

I shifted my stance, trying to recall the mental list of things I'd prepared to tell the newly arrived battalion commander. "The lines have actually been quiet the past few days, which I hope will continue so we can bring the scientists down to the surface right away." I frowned. "Probably the strangest thing I can think of so far is that there's been no all-out assault from either the Prometheans or the Storm, our initial landing notwithstanding. They've mostly just been harassing my other two battalions on occasion, keeping the men on their toes."

"Interesting. So either they don't have the manpower or the means, or they've been holding back for something."

"Exactly. That's something we'll continue to keep an eye on and investigate, with Lloyd's help."

"And mine."

Much to my surprise, the new voice was a familiar one, also female. I looked past Major Dani Brewer then and saw another woman walking toward us, blonde hair put up for duty like mine and contrasting sharply with her black ONI fatigues.

For a moment I was thrown off-guard again. I'd never known she was a spook.

The newcomer halted in front of me then, as Brewer had done, and saluted.

"Lieutenant Colonel Cooper. Lieutenant Commander Courtney Hayden reporting as ordered, ma'am."


	13. Chapter 12: Connections

**Chapter Twelve: Connections**

I didn't even know what to say when I was faced with Hayden's wife in front of me. I had no idea if she'd already heard the news or not – and if she hadn't, I really hated to have to be the one to tell her. Instead I stood there awkwardly for a moment before I reverted back to formalities, returning her salute.

"At ease, Commander," I said. "It's good to see you again."

"And you as well, ma'am." True to her nature as a spook, her tone revealed nothing. She turned to face her colleague Lieutenant Lloyd. "Lieutenant."

"Commander," the other ONI operative acknowledged.

"I'll be meeting with you separately later, son. Keep an eye on your datapad for my message."

"Yes, ma'am." Then he looked to me. "By your leave, Colonel?"

I nodded. "Go ahead, Cal. You're dismissed." That left only Major Brewer, so I faced her next. "Major, we'll be in contact again soon as well. In the meantime, go through the report I sent you, and then we'll meet back up with the spooks before I return groundside. We'll discuss what to do with your battalion for now, where we should deploy Commander Hayden here, and when we'll start disembarking supplies form the _Excalibur_."

"Understood, Colonel," Brewer replied.

The newly arrived battalion commander came to attention again and saluted, then promptly left the hangar bay, following Lloyd out the doors into the hallway. I wondered fleetingly if she'd get up the gumption to talk to him – I'd seen no ring on her finger, and since Cal was the equivalent of a Marine captain in terms of rank, only one pay grade separated them.

But right now, that was far from the first thing on my mind. Right now, I needed to find out if I had to tell a good friend that she had become a widow.

Surprising me, Courtney Hayden gave me a small smile as soon as the major and the spook were gone.

"Well, I'm glad that's out of the way," she said. "I hate stuffy formalities. How are you? It's been some time."

I shrugged. "Can't complain, for the most part. Willis and the kids are all doing well, and groundside operations are a bit hairy at the moment, but nothing too crazy yet."

"And you were promoted, I see."

"Yep. More out of necessity than anything else I think, but everyone insists I earned it."

"I have no doubt you did, Cooper. You've always been young for your rank and a gifted field officer. Congratulations."

"Thanks." I shifted uncomfortably then, knowing I should tell her what I knew sooner rather than later, but finding that the words were hard to say aloud. I swallowed. "Listen, Courtney, there's something…maybe we should…"

It was the first time I noticed the hint of something flash in her eyes, and her tone of voice seemed to change almost abruptly, though in a very subtle way.

"It's okay, Natalie. I know. I…found out on the ship on our way here." She chuckled humorlessly. "Sometimes being a spook and having first access to everything isn't…pleasant. I was so excited to learn that Oliver and I were getting posted together, and then – "

For a moment I watched her struggle to maintain her composure, but she got it back. Then she looked at me again. "Were you there, when he died?" she asked quietly. "Did you see it?"

"Yeah."

The single word came straight out, and the memory flooded my mind at the same time: my best friend shouting orders at his Marines as we fought the Storm in the forest on the mainland along with the rebels. I'd turned my head when I'd heard his voice and looked, just in time to watch him take a full burst from a Storm rifle right in the chest and gut. I'd screamed his name in the pouring rain and rushed over to him, even amid the chaotic fighting going on all around us and at my aide's protest, but by the time Doc Reynolds had gotten there, Major Oliver Hayden was already dead. The lethal plasma rounds had killed him instantly.

And just like that, our joint command had come to an end. And my best friend's life was over.

Lieutenant Commander Hayden dropped her gaze to the deck now at my brief response and covered her eyes for a second. "Christ, Cooper. What happened?"

"He…" I paused, swallowed a second time, and continued, "It was the Storm. He took too many rounds, burned through his chestplate during our big assault in the forest. It was instantaneous. He got hit, lights went out, and…he was gone. I'm so sorry."

Hayden's wife just stood there for a long moment, digesting the information. No doubt she'd already gotten a general sense of how her husband had perished in combat, but hearing the details was always different and likely reopened the very fresh wound of his death. She didn't say anything for several minutes, and all I thought of in that time was how I would've felt if the situation had been reversed. I wouldn't have taken the news half as well as she had if Willis had been the one who'd been killed instead of Oliver.

Finally, she spoke.

"You know what I kept thinking during the rest of the trip here?" she asked me then. "I thought about my boys back home. I wondered how the hell I was supposed to tell our three sons that their father was gone. Now I won't even get to see them until this is over."

I didn't know what to say in reply to that. Willis had scared me a few times too over the years, and I'd wondered the same thing to myself about our own kids. The difference was that to me, it'd always just been a hypothetical thought. To Hayden, it was a reality. This had truly happened to her now, and when she got home, she'd really have to tell her boys the ugly truth.

She glanced back up at me then after a while and sighed, the pain clearly visible in her eyes. With her ONI training I knew she could've hidden it from me if she wanted to, but she didn't.

"I want to see him," she said suddenly, resolute. "I want to see his body. Will you come with me?"

"Courtney," I answered gently, "Oliver's…down in the morgue now aboard ship. You know that. He got shot up pretty bad in the chest. I don't think – "

But Lieutenant Commander Hayden shook her head. "Just his face, Cooper. I just want to see my husband's face one last time."

* * *

I followed Courtney Hayden down the _Affair_'s elevator to the penultimate deck, where the dead were kept in their own separate steel boxes in a giant freezer to preserve their bodies until they could be transported back home to their loved ones. It was a more efficient storage system for those killed in action than using bulky cryotubes, which were instead reserved for the living. I didn't envy the morgue techs or the burial squads their jobs, but I knew someone had to do it.

The Navy lieutenant in charge saluted Hayden and I when we approached and inquired as to why we were down there.

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Courtney Hayden, ONI," the spook said, as if her uniform didn't already show what she was. "I'm here to view my husband, Major Oliver Hayden."

"Ma'am, he's – "

"I know, Lieutenant," Hayden replied. "I won't be long."

The morgue tech sighed, having no choice but to admit her. "Yes, ma'am." He glanced down at his datapad in hand. "His body's stored in aisle sixteen, row nine, box four. I can raise the temperature a bit while you're inside, but you've only got five minutes, Commander."

Hayden's wife nodded and we stepped inside. I'd never been in the morgue of a ship before, so the cold was startling. I pulled my uniform jacket's collar up to cover my neck and hugged myself a little as we walked. My battledress clothes seemed slow to compensate against the huge temperature drop.

Hayden, however, almost didn't appear to notice. She trooped ahead of me fast, finding the right aisle and row in less than a minute. Then an enlisted technician came around the corner on the other side and pointed out the correct box.

"Here's where the major is, ma'am," he said to Hayden. "Would you like me to open it up for you?"

"Yes," she answered without hesitation.

"Very well, Commander."

I stood back and off to the side while the tech used a code to unlock the box. Slowly he gripped the large handle with both hands and pulled it out. On the thin slab of steel was a frozen body, covered with a light blue sheet. The tech looked to Hayden again, who was suddenly stony-faced.

"Ma'am?"

"Pull back the sheet, Chief," she ordered. "Just the head."

"Aye, ma'am."

The tech did as he was told and I turned away. I'd seen dead bodies countless times before on battlefields across the galaxy in my career, but this wasn't how I wanted to remember my best friend. I wanted to remember Oliver as the vibrant, funny guy I'd loved like a brother, not a frozen, lifeless corpse on a cold piece of steel.

I heard his wife's sharp intake of breath then, and I shivered. Shortly after that, I heard the lieutenant commander fall to her knees beside her husband's body and begin to weep. Her unrestrained sobs filled the dark, cool narrow halls of the morgue and made the place all the more morbid and full of sorrow than it already was.

By the end of it, I wished I hadn't agreed to come.


	14. Chapter 13: Solace

**Chapter Thirteen: Solace**

After what I'd just witnessed, I felt like I needed a stiff drink. I left Hayden's wife's company discreetly, figuring she'd want some time to herself for a while to come to grips with things. I wondered if she regretted her decision to see Oliver's body now, but I wasn't going to ask. I knew Courtney Hayden would tell me if she wanted to, and if not, then it wasn't something I needed to know.

The elevator _ping_ed sharply when it reached the third deck and I stepped off the platform, turning right in the hallway to head down the corridor towards the senior officer's wardroom. I knew my way there by heart now, and it took only a few more minutes to get there. Once inside, I reached around the bar for my favorite bottle of whiskey and poured myself a hearty glass, then set the bottle back where I got it.

I didn't take it into the rec room this time. Instead, I carried it over to a set of worn but soft leather chairs and sunk down into one, careful not to spill my drink. After a moment I took my first sip and let out a sigh, relishing the comfortable seat after so many days on my feet dirtside. As I took another swallow of the strong liquor, I had to admit that this was one of the better perks of having been made a lieutenant colonel.

The wardroom was thankfully empty at the moment, which was one of the reasons I'd chosen to remain here rather than move to the rec room. It was tranquil here, quiet, and I could be alone with my thoughts – or escape them, given enough drink – and not have to talk to anyone else for a while.

That was my idea, anyway. I was alone for all of ten minutes, lost in my thoughts – or perhaps trying to lose them – when I heard a voice come from behind me.

"Command weighing heavy on you already, Cooper?" Captain Rhodes asked. He smiled faintly as he walked over to the bar, too, to pour himself a drink. "Brace yourself, Colonel. It only gets worse the higher you go."

I immediately stood at attention at his presence and saluted, almost tossing my drink. "Captain Rhodes, sir. I wasn't expecting you here."

"Heh. Neither was I. But sometimes we surprise ourselves, huh?" He took a sip from his glass, then turned around to regard me. "At ease, Colonel. How're things going groundside? That last report I got from your spook seemed to indicate that you were making progress."

"Yes, sir. That's…not exactly what brings me here. Although, God knows things on the surface haven't been easy. But we're doing all right, for now."

The CO of the _Suave Affair_ nodded, then gestured to my cup. "So why the drink?"

"Major Hayden was my best friend, sir. And today I just found out his wife was aboard the _Excalibur_ that just arrived. She'd already found out in transit that she was a widow, but…today I think it really sunk in. It was hard to watch, sir. Our families have been friends for years."

"I understand. It's hard to lose a battle buddy. Even harder to see the toll his death takes on his wife and kids." He took another drink. "I also imagine you miss being able to share your command burden with someone."

"He was a great help to me when we first landed on Khan, sir," I responded. "I'm no stranger to battlefields or leadership; I know how to do my job. But before this mission I'd spent the last four years after the War living a pretty cushy life on Earth with my family. No combat for a long while, just reconstruction work in North America." I took a sip and shook my head, remembering a life that seemed far away now. "I got to go home every day and usually had the weekends off. Hayden was five years older than me, already more experienced with a battalion command, and he'd spent most of _his_ time after the war fighting the rebs here in the Outer Colonies. He was damn near perfect for the job, sir."

"Except for the fact that he wasn't at all diplomatically inclined," Rhodes countered. "And without your alliance with the locals, which I know from numerous after-action reports was entirely your doing, I believe you would have lost the battle on the mainland against the Remnant." He leaned back against the bar. "And with that, your forces would have been divided, decimated, and wholly weakened for when the Prometheans finally arrived. You would've been surrounded on all sides by enemies, and even an extra battalion of Marines from the _Excalibur_ wouldn't have helped." He fixed his gaze on me now. "So do you still doubt your qualifications and abilities?"

"Not publicly, sir."

The Navy captain chuckled. "That's a good answer, Cooper. But in all seriousness, don't question your promotion too much. I know why the admiral chose to give you this, and I know why I put in a good word myself. Not everyone has the guts to face the rebels as you have – or the drive to keep doing what they know is right in the long run for their men despite the personal attacks Laraza has made against you." He finished his drink then, set the glass on the bar behind him, and walked over to squeeze my shoulder before he left. "You may be a bit young for the job, Cooper, but no ones believes you're incapable. Your track record suggests anything but. I know it's not an easy burden to carry on your own. I know you still mourn the loss of your friend. But this mission was meant for you, Colonel."

* * *

Captain Rhodes left me immediately after that to contemplate his words. Yet as I sat back down in the chair once he was gone, I thought again of Hayden's wife and her breakdown instead, and found it was all too much to try to take in at once. I downed the rest of my drink in one gulp and walked out.

I realized then that I wasn't going to find consolation in drink or reassuring words. I was going to find it where I always had, throughout the years and before I'd even joined the Marine Corps. I was going to find it with Willis.

I found him lounging in our bunk in our quarters, dressed only in a T-shirt, the pants of his fatigues, dogtags, and socks. I noticed he'd shaved his beard and trimmed his short, golden brown hair while I'd been gone, to keep with regulations. He glanced up and gave me a small smile when he saw me come in.

"Hey, Cooper."

"Hi, Will."

He moved to get up when he saw me coming towards the bed, but I motioned for him to stay put.

"Don't get up," I said. "I need a quick rest, too."

I walked over to the desk then to pull off my jacket and boots, gently rubbing the spot on my upper left arm where the bandage still covered my wound, now steadily healing. Then I saw it.

A smile spread wide across my face as I spotted a piece of dessert and an unlit candle on the small table. The candle was the number fourteen, denoting not the date we were belately celebrating, but the number of years we'd been together as a couple now. With the memory of what Courtney Hayden had just gone through fresh in my mind, I felt luckier than ever that we'd made it this far without tragedy cutting our time short. It was bittersweet, though, because of what I knew my friend was going through. But I tried not to let those dismal thoughts ruin the moment.

From the bed, my husband smiled, too. "That's my belated Valentine's Day present, Coop. Turns out there's no fresh flowers or heart-shaped boxes of chocolate on board…but there _is_ chocolate cake if you ask the cooks nicely enough."

For a moment I just stood there with a dumbfounded grin, hardly believing the goody he'd managed to procure for us. I quirked an eyebrow at him, still smiling. "How did you – ?"

Willis chuckled. "Nope, not telling, Cooper. That's my secret."

And in the moment I didn't care. I went right over to the bunk, crawled over Willis, and gave him a long, passionate kiss. He kissed me back with equal fervor, and it was several minutes before we finally pulled back and came up for air again.

When we did, my husband was smirking at me. "Like the cake?"

"Love it," I answered, and I leaned down and kissed him again.

"Good. Let's go eat it."

I put my hand on his shoulder to stop him as he started to get up again. "Wait a sec. Not yet. Turn over a little."

Willis raised an eyebrow at me but did as I asked. Once he was lying on his side with his back to me, I settled in behind him on the bed and put my arm around him. I slipped my left hand underneath the bottom of his T-shirt then and slowly slid it up until I got to his chest, where his heart was. There I stopped, laying my hand flat against his warm skin, and lightly pressed my lips behind his ear.

"I love you, Will," I whispered to him softly. "So much. Don't forget that."

My husband placed his own left hand on mine over his shirt then, our wedding rings touching now between the fabric. Then he said, just as quiet, "I love you, too, Natalie."


	15. Chapter 14: A New Purpose

**Chapter Fourteen: A New Purpose**

I inhaled sharply against my pillow the next morning as a sudden shrill sound filled our quarters. It took a moment for my sleep-muddled brain to recognize it as my datapad chiming. I went into action fast if a bit clumsily, groping around the small nightstand for the device. It came squealing into my hands and I answered it on the fourth ring.

"Hello?" I mumbled sleepily.

"Hello. Is this Major Cooper?" a familiar voice with a faint Spanish accent replied.

"_Lieutenant Colonel_ Cooper," I corrected, pulling up the sheets around my chest with my free hand. I'd realized while I'd sat up that I was naked underneath the covers. Not that it mattered for a call since it was audio-only, but still. "I told you that the last time we spoke, Laraza. What do you want?"

I felt Willis stir beside me then, but he was either still asleep or not alert enough yet to notice I was on a call. In the meantime, I strained to hear the rebel leader/town mayor's words over the bad planet-to-ship connection.

"I wanted to let you know that I looked at the data chip you gave me a week ago. I have watched the video as well."

"And?"

He released a sigh. "It is a problem, like you said."

That was as close to a _"You were right"_ as I was ever going to get out of him. I took it for what it was and nodded to myself.

"Okay. Does that mean you've rethought what I said that day? About extending the truce?"

"Yes, _Colonel_. I am willing now to discuss terms."

"Well, you already know what I want, Mr. Laraza. What're your conditions?"

The mayor chuckled. "Mine are always the same as well, Cooper. When the threat on our city and planet is gone, we want you gone as well. That includes your troops and your ships. _Both_ of them."

"And in return you'll let my Marines land on the mainland again? We can set up a temporary operations base on the coast and count on your men's support if we need it?"

"It is not what I would personally wish to agree to, but circumstances dictate that I do not act rashly in this case. Yes."

I shifted a little. "All right. You've got yourself a deal, then." My voice hardened then as I felt the bandaged wound on my left arm – where the bullet had grazed me – start to throb. "But Laraza, one thing."

"Please, tell me."

"If I come out with so much as another _scratch_ on the mainland, and I suspect that it's you, all bets are off this time. Permanently. We'll pack up and leave, and you'll get what you want. The UNSC will be out of your hair. But it also means that you and your people will be left to handle what's on Qamar Island on your own, without our aid. We'll just sit back and watch from our ships to see what you're able to do in response. The same goes if _any_ of my Marines are harmed. Do we have an understanding?"

It was a bluff. Even as supreme ground commander, I didn't have the authority to completely call off our mission here on Khan. But I hoped if I played hardball with the mayor now, he'd think twice about ordering someone to take another shot at me – or anyone else who wore the uniform.

His response came after a long moment's silence. "I…understand, Colonel. I shall…ensure that my men do not act of their own accord and put our truce in peril."

'_Act of their own accord' my ass,_ I thought to myself. Aloud, though, I said, "Good. Then if that's all, I've got other business to attend to now. My Marines will be returning to Redwood Falls soon. I hope you'll alert your people of our renewed pact before then."

"Of course. All shall be ready for your arrival."

"It'd better be, Laraza. Cooper out."

I hung up then and sat there for a moment, letting out a long sigh as I rubbed at my temple. For the life of me I couldn't comprehend why Mayor Laraza had to be such a difficult man to deal with. It was good that we'd been able to come to an agreement again, but getting there was always like pulling teeth. I was starting to see why Hayden had preferred a no-holds-barred approach with the locals when I noticed Willis blink up at me from his pillow.

"Who was that?" he asked, his voice thick with sleep.

"Mayor Javier Laraza, asshole extraordinaire," I answered irritably, settling myself back down on the bunk but keeping my datapad in hand. I checked the time on it and groaned. It was just after 0500. "See, this is why I don't get any sleep. The guy's up at all hours and always assumes everyone else is, too."

Willis chuckled then and moved in closer to wrap his arms around me, giving me a deep kiss as a pleasant morning greeting. "And here I thought it was me who kept you from getting much sleep last night."

I smirked as I kissed him back. "There's that, but I meant…nevermind."

"I know. I'm just teasing, Coop."

It became apparent very quickly that we were headed back in that direction, but despite the early hour, this morning I knew I couldn't spare the time. Now that I'd finally gotten the truce I wanted with Laraza's men, I needed to start getting our own groundside affairs in order. The sooner I could get things established on the surface, the sooner I could start getting the scientists off-loaded and begin dealing with our ever-precarious alien problem.

It was hard to muster up the self-control to convey this to my husband, however. I ran my free hand over his short hair as I kissed him, then forced myself to pull back before things got too heated again.

"What?" Willis asked.

"No time, sorry," I replied, sitting up again as I brought my datapad up and started typing a message. "Laraza just agreed to an extension of the truce so I've got to work fast now. We need to prepare the Marines and supplies from the _Excalibur_ for departure to the surface, and I need to check in with Harris and Warfield to see if things are clear for the scientists to land." I spared him a quick glance. "You've got work to do, too."

"I do?"

I nodded, returning my attention to the message. "Yup. You're going to go see your CO Major Collins and ask if she can spare an extra squadron to help ferry things down. Tell her it's just temporary this time. I don't want to pull Victor or Kilo off their stations in case the Prometheans or Storm attack again before we get back."

My husband let out a loud sigh of resignation. "All right." Then he turned over, facing away from me now, and mumbled, "Sometimes I hate that we got promoted again, Cooper."

I smiled faintly as I finished typing the message, then placed a hand on his bare shoulder and leaned down to kiss his hair. "Sometimes I do, too. But this is what we signed up for, honey."

With that I got out of bed, quickly pulled on my underclothes, then stole Willis's T-shirt and put that on, too. After that I fished out a pair of my PT shorts from the closet, shimmied into them, and grabbed a towel.

"I'm going to go take a quick shower and then I'll be back to get dressed," I said. "We've got a briefing with Major Brewer and both spooks in half an hour at 0530. I just sent them a message. You should do the same or you won't have time to talk to Collins beforehand."

Willis sighed again as he finally sat up himself and pulled back the sheets. "Right."

I picked up his boxers off the floor and tossed them at him with a mischievous grin. "Remember not to leave in your birthday suit."

My husband smiled, too, but didn't say anything as he pulled them on. Then he started rummaging in the closet himself for another shirt to wear. In the meantime, I passed our small desk on my way out and noticed my two pill bottles sitting there. I slung my towel over one shoulder and stopped to take my meds, then took a swig of water from my canteen to wash them down.

I was busy frowning at the ones I took for the nightmares when Willis closed the closet door and saw me, his own smile fading.

"How many of those do you have left, Natalie?"

"Enough for two more weeks I think. Maybe three."

Willis nodded. "I'll try to shower fast so I can see about talking to the _Excalibur_'s doc, too. I'm sure he's got some stored somewhere." He placed a hand around the back of my head then and gently pressed his lips above my eyebrow. "It'll be okay, honey, like I said. Don't worry about it."

As usual, I wished I could be as confident as my husband that everything would work out. For now, though, I had plenty of other things on my plate to take care of. So I pushed the thought aside in my mind and walked out.

* * *

I met back up with Willis in the hallway once we were both showered and dressed and handed him a cup of coffee and an energy bar, the stand-in meal for when we were in a pinch. He took his drink in stride like I did, swallowed a hot sip, and looked over at me.

"Thanks, Coop. I really needed this."

"No problem. I figured you might. I can't be the only one who thanks God every day for caffeine."

Willis chuckled. "Nope. I'll see you at the briefing, honey. Gotta go catch Collins and the doc now, if I can."

"Hop to it, Major," I teased.

"Yes, ma'am," my husband responded with a grin.

Once he disappeared around a corner, I continued making my way toward our meeting place fast, hoping to get there in time to catch Hayden before she arrived. I felt awful putting her into gear at a time like this, so I needed to find out if she felt up to the task. Even spooks were entitled to a brief period of mourning, although I had to admit that her presence on the ground would be a big help now that I was splitting my forces. I guess I'd just have to see what she thought.

I finally reached the room with ten minutes to spare. No one was there yet. Reluctantly, I shoved my energy bar into the cargo pocket of my fatigues to eat later and rushed to down the rest of my coffee before people showed up. After that I set my datapad on the table, turning it on as I waited. I pressed a button and had it project two different maps side-by-side: one of mainland Khan near the city of Redwood Falls, and another of the island. Both displays had just popped up when Lieutenant Commander Courtney Hayden filed in.

Her appearance was impeccable this morning; you never would have guessed from looking at her that she'd been through any emotional turmoil the previous day. We went through the usual routine of saluting, and then she relaxed, standing quiet and still on the other side of the table in her black battledress uniform.

I wished I could think of something comforting to say to my friend, but I knew that ultimately nothing would change what had happened to Oliver. So I decided on something simple instead.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

Hayden rubbed at her eyes. "I'm…not really sure, actually. I think I went through a million emotions at once yesterday. I even got mad at Oliver for being dead, for letting himself get killed and leaving me and our boys like this." She glanced at the table then, still not meeting my gaze. "Now, I've finally settled on empty. I'm hoping the mission will change that."

"Courtney, you don't have to – "

"Yes, I do. And I want to, Cooper. Really. Anything's better than sitting around sulking and brooding and crying over this. I'd rather have something to do, you know? Keep my mind off it."

That, at least, I understood perfectly well. I didn't say it out loud, but I'd felt the same myself when my second pregnancy had ended in a miscarriage during the War. Everyone had thought that I wouldn't want to do anything after I'd lost Willis's and my baby, that I'd just shut down and shut myself out. In a way I had for a while, emotionally at least, the same way Hayden's wife had now. But I hadn't given up my company command. I took it back once I was able and well enough physically to do it, and I'd relished having a purpose and something to focus on again other than the terrible, engulfing heartache.

In some ways, I now thought my work had actually helped me heal some. I'd never really recovered fully from the blow, but Willis and Gabe and my Marines – and eventually the twins, too, once they were born – had given me enough of a push to get through it.

I thought about somehow trying to convey this all to Courtney but found that the words wouldn't come. I'd always been loath to mention the loss, so I said nothing, only nodding my head in silent agreement.

Major Dani Brewer appeared through the hatch then, saving either of us from more uncomfortable conversation.

"Lieutenant Colonel Cooper, ma'am," she said, saluting.

I saluted back briefly. "Welcome, Major Brewer. At ease."

Navy Lieutenant Caleb Lloyd came in shortly after, followed lastly by my husband. I folded my arms across my chest and began as soon as they were all inside, huddled around the opposite side of the table.

"Good morning, everyone," I said. "I apologize for assembling you all so early, but I got a very interesting datapad call from Mayor Laraza about thirty minutes ago. The locals decided they're finally ready to play ball, so this is it." I tapped my datapad then, making sure the conference link to Majors Harris and Warfield dirtside was working as well. "Majors, how's the connection down there?"

"A little unsteady, ma'am, but I can hear you," Harris answered.

"Same, Colonel," Warfield added.

"Good. So here's the skinny: I'm going to go ahead and set up a staging area on the mainland, per my agreement with the rebels. It'll be on the coast, about ten klicks outside of Redwood Falls. We'll bring down Major Brewer's reinforcement battalion to remain on standby there and be ready to deploy to the island when we need them, or to eventually relieve the 904th or the Eighth if things are quiet. In the case of the latter, we'll rotate the units in and out one battalion at a time.

"It won't be a permanent outpost like Columbia was, but we should get the basics like a field hospital and a mess tent set up over there for immediate use. Major Harris?"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Pull Alpha Company off the lines and tell them to gear up. We'll need some engineers to construct things for us on the mainland and get started on putting up some amenities."

"Got it, Colonel."

"Major Hawk?"

"Ma'am," Willis said in front of me.

I looked over at him. "What's the status on the extra flock of birds? Do we have them?"

"That's affirmative, Colonel. I just got the go-ahead from Major Collins. Cobra Squadron is ready."

"Excellent. Then Hawk, I want you to coordinate with Cobra's leader on shuttling down troops and supplies from the _Excalibur_ to the surface. We're also going to need transport for A Company from Qamar to the mainland."

Willis nodded. "Understood, ma'am."

"Lieutenant Lloyd, you and I will return to the island shortly along with Major Hawk, as soon as preparations have been made," I said. "Lieutenant Commander Hayden will go down with Major Brewer and her Marines to keep an eye on things around the Falls. Specifically, I want a set of eyes and ears on the mainland to keep tabs on the locals – namely Laraza. Make sure they keep their end of the bargain and don't cause trouble for us while we're down there."

Hayden nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

I stepped back and glanced at the holographic maps hovering over the table then. "All right, that leaves just one more thing. Warfield, Harris, how are your sectors of the island looking? Are we clear to bring in the scientists yet?"

"It's been quiet for a while down here, Colonel," Harris responded. "Even by the ruins. I'd say we're good to go, ma'am. Ready as we'll ever be, anyway."

"Cole?"

"The 904th's perimeter is green," he said tersely.

I raised an eyebrow at his tone but said nothing. I'd deal with the major once I was back on the surface.

"Okay," I said then, unfolding my arms and bracing my hands against the edge of the table instead. "Then this mission's a go, everyone. We'll get the scientists out to Qamar as well, and let's see what they turn up."


	16. Chapter 15: Times Like These

**Chapter Fifteen: Times Like These**

**1204 Hours, February 19, 2558. UNSC Staging Camp, Near the City of Redwood Falls, Planet Khan. "The Rough Start," Outer Colonies. Day One of the Dawn of the Prometheans**

The midday sun was warmer than usual on the mainland. Dressed in full gear, I'd rolled up the sleeves of my battledress jacket underneath my body armor, taken off my helmet, and put on my sunglasses instead to keep cool. With my DMR slung over one shoulder, I walked alongside Major Dani Brewer as she took me through the camp, showing me the progress Alpha Company of the 8th Engineers had made with the construction, and telling me how the Marines of her 213th Infantry Battalion were settling in.

"Here's the mess tent, Colonel," she said as she pointed out a large canvas structure ahead of us. "That was the first to go up. And that other big tent down there is the field hospital. It's already been completed, too – and stocked with medical supplies and a few of the doctors from the _Ex_. We've already brought most of the ammo crates and equipment down as well, but those are all stacked up on the far side until we can build a makeshift armory for 'em. The temporary barracks – "

"Alpha's still working on that, I see," I said, cutting her off again.

Brewer seemed to like being very thorough in her reports, whereas I liked being told only what I needed to know to get the gist of things. I wondered if her previous commander had been a real hardass about that, or if it was just her personality. Either way, I wasn't annoyed with her. She'd only just arrived. I knew she'd learn how things were run under my charge with time.

"What about the motor pool, Major?" I asked.

"That's still in the works as well, ma'am. We should be getting three more MTBs and four extra 'Hogs from the _Excalibur_ tomorrow afternoon. Alpha's focusing most of their energy on personnel accommodations now."

I nodded. "As they should."

I knew that wouldn't take much longer, either, as the "barracks" the engineers were putting up were such in name only. They wouldn't be as sturdy or complete as Outpost Columbia's had been, with beds and closets and desks. The Marines here in the staging area would get a roof, a cot, maybe a thin partition, and not much else. Still, it was better than sleeping in the dirt under the stars like we did on the island.

I finally stopped walking then and Brewer came to a halt beside me. Glancing down at my watch, I saw that twenty minutes had gone by since we'd started our trek. I didn't want to spend too much more time here on the mainland, and I had a few other things I wanted to get done before I returned to Qamar, so I turned to face the major again to wrap things up.

"Thanks for the tour, Dani," I said to her. "Keep up the good work. And be sure to keep your men on their toes, too. We might be needing them soon."

Major Brewer nodded in acknowledgment. "I will, ma'am. Thank you."

Gripping my helmet in one hand, I walked off to the side then and met back up with my pilot for this trip, Captain Brandon Heat. He was grinning beneath his own sunglasses when I approached, and he quickly fell into step beside me.

"Damn. I thought she'd never shut up," he said. "Thought I'd have to leave you here and come back tomorrow to pick you up, Colonel."

"Be nice. She's just trying to do her job right. We all get nervous under new COs sometimes – you never know who the hell you're going to end up with. For all she knows I eat this shit up. She'll come around." I gave him a sharp look. "She's also your superior officer, Brandon. Show some respect."

Heat sighed. "Yes, ma'am."

"Why aren't you hanging out by the bird, anyway? This can't be very exciting for you."

"Neither's sitting around in the cockpit waiting for you, ma'am, but that's not it, either." He looked at me like he was trying to decide how much he should say. Finally he added, "I promised Willis I'd keep an eye on you this time. Because of what happened with Laraza and the reb. He wants to make sure you get back to Qamar in one piece."

I smiled weakly. "It's a nice thought, but if Laraza really wants to tag me, the bastard already knows he can. If someone had me in their crosshairs right now I wouldn't even know it, and I'd be dead on the ground before you did, too." I shrugged. "It's all luck of the draw sometimes."

"Yeah? I hear you survived the last sniper who got you."

"I did, but I don't bet on that happening twice." I frowned then. "Let's talk about something else. That's not really something I like to remember."

"Right, Colonel. Sorry."

I spent the next half-hour going through the camp to talk to some of the men and women, stopping to ask how they were doing, how the work was going, and what they thought of the amenities so far. It was just small talk, but it got their minds off the mission for a moment and gave me a chance to gauge the collective mood. I made a conscious effort to include both engineers and infantrymen in my interviews, and junior officers as well as enlisted Marines. I already knew how the upper echelon felt; I wanted to know how the bulk of the boots on the ground were handling things.

Morale seemed pretty level for now, and the Marines I spoke to seemed grateful that I'd asked after them. I passed around words of encouragement and praise, too, then turned to head back to the Pelican with Heat.

That's when we walked by a group of Marines that looked a little different from the rest. Their uniforms weren't crisp and clean like the others', but already covered in mainland Khan's red dirt – and even blackened in some places, like they'd been scorched. They were also busy cleaning their weapons with special care rather than lounging or training or unpacking. Curious, I stopped to speak to a lance corporal among them when I saw him.

I couldn't believe my eyes for minute, but I knew that face anywhere. Our parents' brown hair that all us Cooper kids had inherited, shaved close to his scalp; our mom's brown eyes that contrasted sharply with me and our older brother Mark's green ones – the ones we'd gotten from our dad; and the twin silver bars of a captain on his uniform collar. He was sitting on an empty crate on the ground, scraping the last of his MRE into his mouth when I said his name.

"Travis?"

The Marine's eyes went wide as he glanced up at me. "Natalie?"

An excited laugh escaped me as I stepped forward to give him a huge hug the instant he got up.

"Holy shit, Trav! It's been a frickin' year since I've seen you!"

Travis smiled wide, too. "Heh. Yeah, it's been a while."

Behind us, Captain Heat just stood there confused.

"I…take it you know this guy?" he asked.

Travis and I turned at the same time, an arm around each other's shoulders. I beamed at Willis's friend.

"This is my little brother, Heat," I said. Not moving my arm from my brother's shoulder, I used the other one to point to his name patch, where the word "COOPER" was sewn in big letters. "See? My kid brother's a bona fide company commander now."

"Not quite, big sis," Travis said then. He turned to the small group of Marines around him and gestured. "This is it, Natalie. This is my team. Fourteen of the best guys and gals you've ever seen rig shit to blow."

"You mean you're not a tanker anymore?" I asked.

"Nope. Switched to demolitions after the war. And I couldn't be happier." He pulled me off to the side then, away from the others, and said, "There's more, too."

"What?"

My brother grinned wide again as he produced a small picture from his breast pocket and showed it to me. "My girlfriend had the baby just before I shipped out to come here, Nat. I've got a son."

I grinned, too. "Another nephew for me, huh? Now I've got two of each." Our late older sister Jenna had also had a boy a few years before she'd been KIA, and Mark had two daughters. I knew this was Travis's first, though. I lightly touched his arm, still smiling. "He's a cutie. Congrats, Trav. How's it feel to be a papa?"

"Scary. Amazing. I only got a few weeks with the little guy before I left, but it's…it's really something else, sis."

I chuckled. "Yeah. Your first can feel like that. What's his name?"

"We named him Adam Roy Cooper. Kelsey insisted."

Emotion momentarily welled up inside me – not enough for tears, but enough that I felt it. "You guys named him after Dad."

"Yep."

"He would've liked that."

There'd been five of us Cooper kids at our father's funeral nearly twenty-seven years ago. Our older siblings Jenna and Mark had been ten and eight, respectively. I'd been four, Travis had been one, and our little sister Allison had only been a couple months old at the time. Our mother had died five years ago during the War, too, but Jenna was gone by then, and the rest of us had been spread around the globe on Earth fighting the Covenant and the Flood. There'd been little time after the war either to remember our parents, and for that I felt sad.

It was why I'd chosen to remain a Cooper when I'd married Willis. I'd wanted to do something to remember my dad by, and I hadn't wanted to let go of my link to our large, close-knit clan. So I'd decided to keep my last name rather than change it. Willis had understood my choice and had never had a problem with it.

"So what else is new, Trav?" I asked my younger brother, forcing the thoughts aside.

Travis shrugged. "Nothing much besides that. Now I'm here and apparently under the leadership of my older sister," he said with a smile. "So…I'm at your disposal when you need it, Colonel." He gestured again to his team. "All of us."

I wanted to stay longer to catch up with my brother, but knew I'd already lingered here long enough. I gave Travis one last hug, told him to keep safe, then took off with Heat again towards our ride – and Qamar.

* * *

I put my helmet back on just before we landed on the island, then said my goodbyes to Willis's best friend and disembarked. Seeing that things were still oddly quiet over here, I went and sought out Lieutenant Caleb Lloyd first to see if he had any updates.

"Colonel Cooper, ma'am," he said as I approached. "Back from the mainland already?"

"Yeah. Wasn't much to it out there yet. The engineers are making good progress though, and Commander Hayden said the rebs've been keeping to themselves so far."

"That's good, ma'am."

I nodded, then glanced at him and grinned. "Your lady friend asked about you, you know."

Lloyd's cheeks immediately went red. "I'm sorry, Colonel. I know Major Brewer's my superior and I'm not supposed to – "

I barked a laugh. "Lighten up, Cal. I'm just giving you a hard time. But thanks for confirming what I thought."

The spook looked upset at himself for slipping, even in front of a friend. I put a hand on his shoulder to reassure him.

"Listen. Your difference in rank is small, you're both officers, and you're not in each other's direct chain of command. Under the circumstances, I've been known to look the other way with things like this. Just make sure you keep it professional on-duty – as I know you will – and as far as I'm concerned, there's no problem. Okay?"

The ONI operative nodded slowly. "Yes, ma'am." He furrowed his brow then. "So does that mean she _didn't_ ask about me?"

"No. She did. Brewer was just more subtle about it – which is strange because _you're_ the spook."

"Ha ha. I get it. I'm bad at this."

"Maybe a little, but you'll get the hang of it." I folded my arms across my chest, still smirking. "So. Business talk now. What's going on with the scientists in the ruins?"

Lieutenant Lloyd seemed relieved to be back in his element. "They've been busy the past few days, Colonel. They haven't found any more passages out of the chamber yet, but they have been able to identify some of the symbols on the walls. No translations on the locations, but it looks like there's at least five portals down there – two are confirmed to be active, three aren't."

I frowned. "Shit. Somehow knowing but not makes it worse. I want to find out where the hell the Storm and Prometheans are coming from already."

"As do I, ma'am, and I'm sure the brains do, too. They've only been planetside three days, though. I bet – "

Both of us nearly jumped then as several Marines let out ear-splitting screams at once. Caleb and I both brought our weapons to bear at the same time, fearing a renewed attack by the Remnant or Prometheans on our lines. Instead, when we scanned the area for the source of the commotion, there was nothing.

Then the Navy lieutenant pointed his battle rifle upward and bumped my shoulder. Hard.

"Colonel, look! Up there! Holy – !"

I looked up at the sky where he was pointing and saw it. I gripped my rifle tighter in my hands and simply stared for a moment.

A huge explosion had just erupted in orbit up above. Though we obviously couldn't hear it, we could definitely see it, and that's why some of the Marines had cried out. I kept an ear on the general COM channel to hear what had happened, but no one was broadcasting anything yet. I turned back to the spook.

"Cal? What the fuck is going on?"

He held up a finger. "Wait one, ma'am. I'm receiving a message from Hayden right now. Encrypted." There was a long pause, then, "Son of a _bitch_."

"What?" I asked, more urgently this time.

Lloyd looked at me then, his expression hard. "That thing that just went up in smoke was the _Suave Affair_, Colonel. We've got a Storm ship right above us."


	17. Chapter 16: Zero Hour

**Chapter Sixteen: Zero Hour**

"Breaking, breaking, breaking!"

"Echo Squadron, get after them!"

"_Watch the starboard wing!_"

"_Ahhhhhhrrrgggghhh!_"

"Bogies, ten o'clock!"

Major William "Willis" Hawk's shipboard COM was suddenly inundated with tens of reports in a matter of seconds. One minute he'd been flying his usual route around the island, checking in with both Kilo and Victor Squadrons to be sure the ground was clear, and the next all hell had broken loose. It made for a dizzying attempt to keep up with the fragments of radio chatter until finally, something clear came through.

Hawk immediately recognized it as his CO's voice.

"Talon, this is Flight Leader," Major Erin Collins said, her voice strangely calm. "Are you receiving?"

Willis tapped his own COM fast. "Affirmative, Flight Leader. All due respect, but what the hell is going on? The COM's going wild and I've got all eyes on the surface right now, but I don't see – "

"Look up, Hawk."

The major did as she said and took in a sharp breath as he finally saw what was happening just above him in orbit. An enormous field of debris filled the space where the formidable _Suave Affair_ used to be, and the smaller _Excalibur_ was absent. He rapidly clicked a button on his console to change the display, and now saw green pinpricks of light above where Major Collins had deployed the remainder of her pilots. All three squadrons were in Broadswords, currently engaged against a large group of Seraphs just outside Khan's atmosphere.

Willis realized with growing trepidation that that could only mean one thing.

"Oh, fuck."

The words came out the moment he saw the Storm ship show up on his main screen, and suddenly a sour sense of dread settled in his stomach. _No_, he thought, almost desperate. _No, please, not –_

"The _Suave Affair_ was just destroyed, Talon," Major Collins said then, giving voice to his fear. "Right after we launched."

_Shit_. "And the _Ex_?"

"Gone, but not in the way you think. The Storm ship went after the _Affair_ first, and since it was already moderately damaged from our last run-in before we arrived, it didn't make it. The _Ex_ did the sensible thing and jumped in the meantime. They knew if the _Affair_ fell, they didn't stand a chance."

"Jesus," Hawk breathed. It may have been smart in some ways for the _Excalibur_ to have taken to Slipspace to flee the chaos, but in doing so, it had left all the pilots and ground troops wide open to attack from the enemy vessel; Willis was sure that the Storm ship wasn't going to keep its assault isolated to space. And in that case, it was up to him and Victor and Kilo to keep the Marines dirtside safe.

That included his wife and his baby brother.

"What's going on with the ship now?" Hawk asked.

"It hasn't glassed the surface yet, so that's something," Collins replied. "So far it's just attacked our own boat and launched Seraphs."

For a second Major Hawk found that curious, too, but then he remembered something Natalie had said to him when they'd been billeted together at Outpost Columbia, before it had been overrun and largely demolished by the ex-Covies. She'd told him that there was a reason the Covenant hadn't glassed this half of Khan during the Human-Covenant War, and why they were so keen on having it now – the ruins. Willis knew the Remnant wouldn't risk permanently erasing their holy site just to get rid of the humans around it, so for that, at least, he felt relatively confident that the UNSC forces wouldn't get instantaneously barbecued anytime soon.

As for an all-out war on the surface for control of the place, however, Willis had no doubts that they could count on that.

"They're not going to stay up there for long," he murmured over the COM then.

"What was that?"

"The Storm," Hawk said louder, with conviction. "They're not up there to tango with you guys, and their biggest threat in orbit is gone now. They're going to head for the atmosphere."

Willis suddenly cursed under his breath at how patient and cunning the Remnant had been. Three months the UNSC had been here, going back and forth from the _Affair_ and the mainland and the island, and always the focus had been on the ruins and – as he'd recently found out himself – the threat posed by the portals inside. Instead, while everyone had been busy fretting over the backdoor, the Storm had apparently now decided to come in the traditional way. And they'd taken them all – including the _Affair_ – by surprise.

"Collins, I'd suggest – "

But she cut him off then with urgency in her voice. "Talon, watch it! They've just launched Banshees! The Phantoms aren't far behind! We'll try to get as many as we can up here but I'm warning you now that we're badly outnumbered! And we've still got those Seraphs to tackle!"

"On it!"

Major Hawk kicked his Pelican into gear then and switched COM channels, so that he was broadcasting to both his squadrons above the island – Kilo and Victor – as well as Cobra, who'd thankfully landed on the mainland just several minutes earlier to ferry down supplies.

"Kilo, Victor, and Cobra, this is Gold Leader," he said. "Some of you may have noticed that we've got company upstairs. The _Affair_ is gone for good, and the _Excalibur_ has momentarily jumped away to keep our cargo safe. The rest of the air wing is currently engaged in orbit, so that means it's up to us to provide the Marines on the ground with overhead support. We've got multiple Banshees and Phantoms inbound right now – ETA is six minutes. So let's get ready to rock."

In the brief interim, Willis checked all the status indicators on his craft, then his payload – he'd just rearmed and refueled a few days ago when he'd taken Cooper and the spook up to the _Affair_, so he had a full complement of missiles on board, as well as plenty of ammo for the heavy machine gun. After that, he checked the position of his squadrons relative to the incoming ex-Covie fighters and made sure they were all accounted for.

It was during the last minute before things really started to get crazy that he took a moment to press his gloved fingers against the family picture taped to his cockpit, as he always did. Natalie and their three kids smiled back at him.

_Stay safe down there, Coop,_ he thought to himself. _Gabe, Liam, and Liv, remember to wish Mommy and Daddy luck. We're going to need it._

A frightening number of Banshees swooped in on them a few seconds later, some moving to engage, others keeping on the flanks of several Phantoms as they escorted the larger crafts groundside to drop troops and vehicles. Willis knew that every one he let through would threaten his wife and little brother on Qamar, so he quickly pushed the controls of his Pelican harder and went after them.

"Cobra, focus on tagging the bastards making for the surface!" he cried over the radio while he maneuvered. "Kilo, you do the same, but try to stay above the ruins. Victor, let's move to counter, now! We need these skies clear!"

There was one exception to the rule in Willis's orders, and that was his best friend and wingmate, Captain Brandon Heat. In a private channel to his friend, Hawk amended, "Snoopy, you're with me."

"Gotcha, Talon," came the near-instant reply. "Wouldn't want it any other way." Willis could hear the grin in his voice in the next words. "Without me around there'd be nobody to pull your ass out of the fire, _sir_. And if something happens to you, Natalie'll have _my_ ass. So – "

"So you have a vested interest in keeping me alive so you don't have to face my wife's wrath," Hawk finished with a slight smile of his own.

"Pretty much, Talon. Speaking of which, bogies at one!"

Willis had had his sights on them the entire time, waiting for the trio of Banshees to come into range before he hit the triggers on the missiles and launched. It was a dangerous move to make while the Storm craft were rocketing toward them, but that was the major's MO, always had been. It was how he'd made a name for himself as an ace pilot at a young age, and why he maintained that status now at thirty-one.

Cooper may have been good at leading, but Hawk was good at _flying_.

As soon as the missiles were away, the Banshees let out a flurry of plasma lances of their own, but Willis and his Pelican were already gone. Hawk hit the thrusters and went up, while Heat read his move and came in from the flank, strafing the lithe purple ships with his machine gun. One of them exploded in a fiery plume, catching the brunt of the Pelicans' joint assault. Another began trailing smoke as one of the missiles burst against its side. The third came out unscathed though, its pilot clearly more skilled than the others as the alien craft banked left to right to dodge the MG rounds, then went into a tight roll to avoid Hawk's missiles. Willis noticed and jerked the controls of his Pelican again, diving for the unharmed vessel with his own MG blazing. In the meantime, Heat zeroed in on the injured Banshee.

The second wave of the attack succeeded where the first didn't. Out of the corner of his eye on his console, Major Hawk saw the damaged Banshee his wingmate was after suddenly burst in midair while it attempted to maneuver away. Captain Heat let out a loud whoop over their private channel.

"_Woo!_ You see that, Talon? That's how it's done, baby!"

Willis smiled a little in his seat. "Nice hit, buddy! Now get after the rest. I got this last one."

"You sure, Tal?"

"I'm sure, Snoopy. Go."

"Roger that."

Hawk's determination to beat this clever Storm pilot increased as soon as his best friend left his six. This fight was going to be a matter of pride, one the major was anxious to win. He'd fought many talented Covenant pilots during the War, and even when the last Storm ship had attacked the _Suave Affair_ four days before they'd arrived over Khan. But this one was something special. He'd outmatched two seasoned human pilots so far with elaborate moves to keep from becoming an exploding pile of debris in the sky – and right now, he was giving Willis a run for his money, too.

Major Hawk grinned to himself and raced after the alien craft, enjoying the exhilarating feeling of the high-velocity chase flowing through his veins. It was the reason he'd always loved flying...and a good dogfight.

"All right, you bastard," he said aloud then. "Let's dance."

The first of Willis's MG rounds went right below the ex-Covie's Banshee, missing the fuselage by a hair. Hawk cursed but pushed on, adjusting his aim as he followed his alien counterpart into a barrel roll with weapons close to overheating. Finally a burst hit, and soon the Banshee in front of him was trailing smoke from a wing, just like the other had. The major's smile momentarily widened as he readied his missiles and frantically jerked his craft from starboard to port to get a lock.

But then the Banshee suddenly disappeared.

"What the hell?" Willis screwed up his face in confusion beneath his helmet, searching the skies with his eyes as well as electronics for the bogie. For a moment he wondered if the Storm had learned some tricks from the ever-elusive Prometheans recently, but then it hit him: the pilot had rolled up out of sight instead of sideways to throw him off. It was what Hawk himself would've done in that position.

_You're good, but not good enough, my friend,_ Major Hawk thought with a smirk. _Your ass is mine now._

Hawk rolled his Pelican hard to port and yanked the controls up a second later, ending up just behind and to the left of the alien pilot. He liked to imagine that the ex-Covie son of a bitch's eyes went wide inside the Banshee as Willis got a lock and sent his newly armed complement of missiles after it, but of course he couldn't be sure of that. The major then dove back down and out of the way, and waited for the fireworks to go off.

He didn't have to wait long. A sudden detonation above him sent a shockwave rushing across his Pelican, and he had to maintain a white-knuckle grip on the controls to keep his craft level through the blast. When it was over, though, Hawk was happier than a kid on Christmas morning.

_I still got it,_ he thought smugly to himself. _That'll give the rest of those alien bastards something to think about._ He glanced upward toward the battle going on in orbit, too. _I hope Collins is giving them hell up there._

Willis turned his attention back to his own surroundings then and noticed Captain Heat coming back alongside his wing. His best friend's voice was full of excitement.

"Damn! That was some fancy flying, Talon!"

"You know it! Better watch it, though. We got more coming up on our tail."

It was the first time since the skirmish began that Hawk was able to get a good look at his display and see how his pilots were faring around him. His amped up feeling from the adrenaline rush began to diminish when he saw just how many Banshees they had left to take on. They were positively swarming the skies above the island now.

Some had even managed to get through. They were attacking the ground now as they provided cover for their Phantoms to land.

Slowly, Major Hawk's smugness started to turn to anxious fear again. Natalie was down there, and so was Matthew. This was no time to play games. He clicked his COM. "Kilo, Victor, Cobra, this is Gold Leader. We need to step it up! Let's make sure no more Phantoms touch dirt, is that clear?"

Acknowledgment lights winked green across his display, but he found that the worry remained. Deep down, he already knew that all his pilots were doing their very best; they knew what was at stake here. But sometimes, as he'd just found out himself now, even your very best wasn't enough.

The major momentarily had a flashback to the start of the battle for Earth nearly six years ago now. He remembered fighting the Covenant bastards in orbit when they'd first shown up over the human homeworld, and the helplessness he'd felt as he'd watched them destroy the orbital defense platform _Athens Station_ right in front of him, despite the tough fight he and his squadron had put up. Somehow the Covenant had managed to overwhelm them and bypass their defenses to get to their true objective – and now, the Remnant was doing the same thing here.

When he clicked his COM this time, it was to open up a private channel between himself and his wife. Though he had no doubt that the Marines on the ground could see what was happening for themselves by now, he still felt a burning need to warn Cooper of what was coming.

"Colonel, this is Talon in the skies," Willis said then over the radio. "Be advised, you've got Banshees and Phantoms incoming. I repeat, Banshees and Phantoms inbound."

_Please be careful,_ _Coop,_ he thought to himself. _For me, and for our boys and our little girl back home._


End file.
